Chaos Theory
by DojangDoll
Summary: His piercing red eyes stared right at me.   "So what do you think? She's good yeah?" Scourge asked the thing. It nodded and looked away. I breathed a sigh of relief.   "Yes, she should be a fine specimen to try the Chaos energy on. I'll bring her now then
1. Chapter 1: The Convention

Chapter 1: The Convention

"Are you sure this is the right room? No one's here." I said warily as I walked into the empty gymnasium. I hugged my jacket to myself and looked around. The large room was eerily quiet, and cold. They usually have the heat going on even during the night hours so it doesn't look like a skate rink in the morning when the first gym class takes place. I turned and looked towards Scourge who had closed the door and was now walking towards me on the sidelines. He put his hands on my shoulder and guided me towards the center.

"Trust me Charlotte, they'll all be here soon. And once they hear how you sing, they're sure to give you a part on the show." He reassured. His light blue eyes gleamed with sincerity in contrast to the rest of his seemingly innocent less clothing. His large green and black sneakers squeaked on the floor while my flats made seemingly no noise.

"But what if I mess up?" I asked. He smiled and shook his head.

"I don't think you could mess up, but just in case, why don't you practice? The gym has good acoustics, so you'll sound even better than normal." He walked back out towards the circle surrounding me in the center and began to pace around and around.

"Well, what are ya waiting for? Sing." He said. His voice echoed off the walls and came right back into my ear canals.

I sighed and dropped my jacket onto the floor. I'd rather my whole body freeze than just one half. Breathing in I thought of the first note. The first pure note.

"It started out as a feeling, which then turned into a hope."I sang. The words flew around the gymnasium like a thousand birds singing the same tune. Fluttering and dancing all around me, enveloping me completely into the song. When the song finally ended and the last note echoed throughout the gym, I noticed that there was another in the room standing next to Scourge at the circle's edge.

At least, it was standing like a person though it was maybe only up to my shoulder in height. Whatever it was, it had long, white spikes falling around its shoulders which had a long black cape falling to the floor. It had glasses on its face and bandages on its hands and feet. There was also a gold diamond shape on his forehead which went with the gold belt around the waist. His piercing red eyes stared right at me.

"So what do you think? She's good yeah?" Scourge asked the thing. It nodded and looked away. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes, she should be a fine specimen to try the Chaos energy on. I'll bring her now then." He said. I could tell it was a he because the voice was so darn deep. I saw Scourge nod and walk up to me.

"Charlotte, I want you to keep this with you alright? If anyone tries to hurt you, tell them I gave it to you, and that you're under my protection." He said, his mouth inches from my ear. He pressed something small into my hand and let go. I grabbed on and put my arms around him.

"What's going on Scourge? What is that thing?" I asked, glancing at the thing at the corner of the circle. It was staring at me. I looked away and towards the ground.

I felt Scourge's hands take mine off of him.

"You'll see soon enough. Just remember what I said okay?" He told me quietly. He then turned towards the white guy. "I'll be there as soon as I finish up here."

Scourge pushed me forwards towards the white thing, who grabbed my arm. He nodded and pulled out a large red crystal. He held it up above his head and began to speak an incantation. I tried to pull away from him, but his grip was too strong. The crystal glowed and we were enveloped in a bright light.

I reached towards Scourge who was still standing in the gym looking at me before we vanished.

I looked around my surroundings which seemed to be the dungeon of a castle. There were cobwebs everywhere which put me under the impression that no one had dusted in over ten years at least. The dark gray bricks on the wall seemed to go on a long time in either direction with the occasional candelabra hanging. I turned towards the white thing who was walking down the hallway towards a light.

"Follow me." He said as his cape trailed theatrically behind him.

I stared at him until he realized I wasn't following. He turned, and his red eyes glowed.

"Please follow me, or I'll leave you for the rats." At that, when he walked away I followed.

"Look, I know these are really stereotypical questions but, who are you? Where am I? What am I doing here? And what's Scourge got to do with this?" I called up to him. His pace never slowed, so I was forced to jog to catch up to him. That's when I noticed that I only came up to his shoulder! Being five foot three, at least, and having a huge head on top of that, I don't know how a height change like this could occur. I hoped I wasn't shrinking…

I heard a slight chuckle from him as he continued to walk.

"My name is Finitevius. I'm a scientist on the planet of Mobius, though we are currently in Moebius, the darker version of the first. And this place, being a darker counterpart, is a castle where the king resides. In this case, Scourge. Now, as to why you're here…" He said as he turned his head to look back at me, a slight smile spreading across his face.

"That you'll find out as soon as Scourge gets here."

"Wait, what do you mean Scourge is a king? He's just a high-schooler like me!" I said to him.

"There's more to Scourge than you know Charolette. There's a whole lot more, but please, come in and have a seat." He said motioning me through the door.

I stopped in front of him briefly and then walked through. There was a scientists lab throughout the entire space. From test tubes, and beakers, to what looked like a really expensive computer… it was all in there. I mean it looked like Jekel and Hyde exploded in the space age really.

"Wow." I said as I walked in and began to touch all the seemingly fragile objects full of odd liquids. "This is neat."

"Thank you. I'm glad you approve." Finitevius said sarcastically as he walked around to a large table filled with odd looking objects. "Now, if you could please come over here?"

He motioned for me to come over to him, and I obliged. I walked up next to him to see him holding up a large stone tablet with weird markings on it.

"What's this?" I asked.

"This is a set of directions for an experiment I plan on running. And, you're going to be the "guinea pig". Now, if you would stand over there in that circle for me?" He said pointing to a cleared area in the center of the room.

I stared at him blankly for a few moments.

"Are you nuts?" I asked. He looked at me with an inquisitive look on his face, like he wasn't used to people disobeying his requests.

"You expect me to come here and do whatever you tell me to do just like that?"

"Yes, actually, I do. Scourge thought you had potential to do this experiment. And by the time he gets back I would like to have made some sort of progress." Finitevius growled. I stood down to his sharp teeth.

"Fine. Fine." I said, making my way over to the circle. "So, what exactly is this experiment?"

His head was looking down onto the tablet.

"I want to put chaos energy into a living object. The ones I've tried on… MY kind haven't worked out too well," He said. "So, I wanted to try a simpler species to see how the energy reacted. Then I'd try it out on something more complex."

He walked over to a cabinet and opened it.

"And, you'll know what I'm talking about soon enough. Ah, here it is." He pulled out a yellow crystal similar to the one he used earlier.

He turned to me.

"This is called a Chaos Emerald, a lighter version of the Anarchy Beryl normally found on this plane. I'm going to attempt to transfer the energy from this, to you."

I looked at the glowing crystal in his hand and stared in awe. It was beautiful by all standards, but how on earth did he plan on getting THAT into ME?

"Mmhmm." I said. "And what will-"

"Finitevius!" A voice interrupted. I looked towards the stairs as tall orange fox in a black jumpsuit with a big yellow bow on her head walked in.

"Why do I smell a- Human!" She growled as she spotted me. She walked up to me and pulled me up by my shirt front bringing me up to her face.

"How did she get here?"

Finitevius walked calmly over to us while I held onto her hands.

"Calm down Fiona, I brought her here. She's the one Scourge talked about. You do remember don't you?" He asked.

Fiona's eyes flashed and slowly put me down. I promise I'll never make fun of gravity again… feet should never really get off the ground for more than a brief second.

"I remember." She said. "So where is HE?"

"Back on Earth tying up some loose ends for Charolette here." I looked up at him.

"Tying up some loose ends? I thought I was going back soon." I said.

His red eyes glanced over at me.

"The times of both our worlds work differently, as far as we've noticed. Apparently for every week you're here only an hour goes by there, so you shouldn't be gone too too long. At the very most twenty four hours."

"Twenty four hours?" I asked in disbelief. "That's too long though! My family might think I'm dead!"

"That can always be arranged little one." Chuckled Fiona as she leaned against a desk. I stuck my tongue out at her.

"My name is Charolette." I grumbled. Finitevius walked over to the fox and put a hand on her shoulder.

He softly spoke something to her and she sighed as she left the room.

"Fine. Fine. I'll go get them." She said. Then, at the doorway, she stopped and turned towards me. "Good luck Tiny."

"So, shall we carry on?" He asked as he walked back over to his abandoned tablet. "It's a quick process, but your recuperation time may take the longest out of everything."

"Sure," I said absentmindedly as I walked back over to the circle. "Really quick, why did you guys take me here?"

"Because, Scourge chose you." He answered as he walked in front of the circle with the yellow crystal, or Chaos Emerald, or whatever you called it.

He raised the hand that held it and began to chant what was ever on the tablet. Almost immediately the room darkened and the circle I was in began to glow. I looked up through my hair that was floating around my face and saw the glowing crystal/Emerald/thingy disappear. Then, there was a prick in my chest. Almost like when a needle goes into your arm to take blood. You can feel it, but you can't feel the pain unless you look at it, and of course I looked down.

The crystal/Emerald/thingy was standing on its tip right on my sternum. Then it seemed to melt on my chest. It was warm, like a freshly dried towel, and completely enveloped my body. I screamed slightly because the sensation was so unusual, but then I felt it crystallize. The reason I knew this was because for about a minute I couldn't move any part of my body. My eyes were frozen somewhere on the circle on the ground. My lungs stopped working too. The crystal shattered and I fell down to the ground breathing in all the sweet air I could. My hands touched the ground, but my arms couldn't support the rest of my body and I fell down to my rest side and resorted to looking like a landed fish, breathing for air up and down, up and down.

From my vantage point on the ground I saw the glowing of the circle slowly dim. I then heard Finitevius walk over to a cart and put the tablet on it. His footsteps then came back over to me and turned me over. My muscles were so tight, I couldn't move.

His red eyes looked into mine and scowled. They then looked up and he stood.

"Take her into the back room, but keep a close eye on her. I don't know if she'll make it through the night." Then, there were two sets of footsteps walk over to me and I saw another fox, though this one had swept back hair and wearing a coat, and a big purple thing with mechanics on his head and one of his arms.

"Hello there," Said the fox as he leaned in to my face. His eyes looked my up and down when he finally looked up. "Pick her up Boomer, and we'll take her back."

The purple thing, Boomer, picked me up bridal style and began to walk towards a set of stairs on the opposite side of the room I entered.

"I… hope I'm not… too heavy…" I said softly.

"Hmm? No, you're just fine." Said Boomer back to me. He walked up a set of stairs into a well lit hallway.

"Miles, can you open the door?"

I saw the fox in the red coat run ahead of us and opened a door.

"You have… two tails…" I pointed out to the fox as Boomer walked in.

Miles nodded. As if he'd gone through his whole life and not known that he had two tails sticking out the bottom of his spinal column.

Boomer walked over to a bed and set me down. Miles put a couple blankets around me, and almost as soon as that occurred, I fell right asleep, though, I could've sworn I felt a needle go into my right arm…


	2. Chapter 2: The Foothold

Chapter 2: The Foothold

I was running, just running down a hallway, I slid to the end and began running to the right. As to what I was running from, I don't know. I was just running, running, running, running…

My eyes popped open to a dark room. I was lying down in a bed with blankets on top of me. I turned over onto my right side and came face-to-screen with a monitor displaying bright green symbols. I could take it to be my heart rate because I could hear the beep, beep, beep, of my pulse every couple seconds.

Slowly, I sat up on my arm and spotted a figure in the far corner of the room.

"Hello?" I called softly. No response. "Hello?"

Again, nothing.

I sighed and swung my legs over the bed and jumped off. My bare feet touched the cold floor with a soft tap. Someone must've taken my shoes off at one point. I walked forwards when a sharp pain led my eyes to my arm. Sure, enough there was a needle. I took it out and let it fall to the floor. I also released the patches that where attached to my chest and forehead. The beeping on the monitor turned into a steady hum. I walked the rest of the way to the figure in the corner.

I shook its shoulder.

"Hey, are you alive?" I asked. "Hey, wake up." I heard a groan as its head lifted up. A pair of bright blue eyes gazed into mine. "Scourge?"

He stood up and scooped me into a hug as he spun me around and set me down.

"Charolette! Thank god you're okay. I just got back a while ago and was waiting for the Doc to come in. How are ya?" He asked.

"I'm doing fine. Confused and still mildly tired, but okay. You mean, just got back from my world right?" I asked as he turned on the light. I gasped and stepped back towards the bed.

Scourge was no longer human. His skin was green, all of it, and his hair was spiked back into large clumps. His mouth was now a muzzle with a large, black nose, and his sharp teeth I thought I'd noticed before where now much more prominent.

"What happened to you?" I asked as I took another step back. He looked down at himself and back to me like he forgot what he looked like.

"This is how I usually look, Charolette. I had to be a human to gain access to your school and meet you." He answered calmly as he walked towards me. "Is this okay? I promise I won't hurt you."

I tried to calm myself down and breath deeply, letting his animal self soak into my mind.

"Yes," I said after a couple seconds. "It's just…"

"Weird? Yeah, but you'll get used to it." He said pulling me towards the door. "Come on. We'll go tell the Doc you're alright. I know he was somewhat concerned. You've been in bed for about ten days."

Ten days. That's about an hour and twenty minutes back in my world…

"And he hasn't given up on me yet?" I asked.

"No. So, it means that he really wants to see how this experiment turns out." He put his hand out. "Congratulations." I took it and shook. Then the door burst open allowing more light to enter the room.

"Scourge!" A voice yelled. A tall figure in the door stormed over to the bed I previously occupied. I quickly hid behind Scourge. I didn't really want to get in the way of this guy. But he did look familiar come to think of it… "Where is she? What have you done with her?"

"Chill, Miles." Scourge said as he stepped forwards. "You scared her when you burst in here yelling like a banshee." I felt his hand on my back as he pushed me forwards. Which meant I was pushed about three feet forwards straight into the person who was on an angry rampage.

I felt my face hit their chest and their arms caught mine.

"Oww…." I whined. "Who'd I hit?" I looked up into an orange muzzled face with silvery gray hair sweeping over the face. Their eyes which a few seconds ago held malice, softened as they looked back at me.

"Hello Charolette." He said. I could tell he was a boy because of his voice, and the clothes he wore. Red uniformed top with gold buttons.

"Uh, Hello?" I asked as I righted myself.

"Sorry. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Miles." He said. "And it's nice to finally meet you."

"Yes… I remember you… You brought me here with a… a Boomer. Yes?" I asked as I re-noticed his two tails. Miles nodded, and then walked over to the heart monitor and turned it off.

"Do you have any idea how much you worried us because of this? Finitevius is probably still having a heart attack as we speak Scourge. And it's not funny!" He yelled. I turned towards Scourge, who was holding his stomach as he was doubled over in laughter

"The hell it isn't! Man, I would kill to have seen his face!" Scourge laughed. Then he sighed, still chuckling, and wiped a tear from his eye. "We probably should let him know she's fine though huh?"

"That would probably be for the best." Miles said calmly as he walked over towards me. "Charolette, if you would." He prompted as he held his arm out. I took it and walked out of the room with him. I heard the tapping of Scourge's shoes behind us.

We walked in silence, which was mildly awkward for me. I got the feeling these two didn't see eye to eye on anything, and that they more than likely fought with each other on a regular basis… Goodness…

I sighed.

"So, I've been out for ten days?" I asked.

"That's correct." Miles said. "Finitevius was surprised that you survived that long. Normally a patient wouldn't make it past the original initiation of the Chaos energy."

"Yeah, some of the other ones would explode or somethin'." Scourge added.

"Eww…" I said. "Glad that didn't happen."

"Me too. Then all that time I spent looking for ya would've been wasted." I turned around sharply while continuing to walk.

"Thank you so very much for your lack of emotion." I said.

He smiled and flashed his eyes at me from underneath his red sunglasses. I blushed and quickly turned my head forwards again.

"Just ignore him," Miles muttered to me from under his breath. "His intelligence regarding other people doesn't reach all the way to the top, if you know what I mean."

"Completely." I murmured back.

"I heard that."

I stuck my tongue out at him. He returned the motion.

"Well, well, well," came a cool voice from a doorway. "You made it through then. How… fortunate for you." The girl from earlier, Fiona if I recall correctly, pushed off of the wall and walked over to me. She too was taller than me. "But as to how, I'll never know." Her eyes then darted from me over to Miles. Her mouth turned into a sinister smirk. "As for you, I'd think twice before you tried anything."

Miles cleared his throat and dropped my arm slowly.

"This way, Charolette." He said as he opened a door for me. I walked past Fiona and Miles into the same Jekyll and Hyde laboratory from before. I saw Finitevius sitting by one of the tables with his head in his hands. There where some other animals nearby, one of which I recognized as Boomer.

"She's alive Doc," Fiona called into the room. Immediately Finitevius' eyes opened and his head popped up and stared at mine. I saw relief flood through his eyes as he made his way over to me.

"Thank goodness, I was worried that we'd have to start the whole process over again." He said as he checked my pulse. "You're feeling alright? No external bleeding or rashes?" He asked.

"I sure hope I don't," I said as I nodded to his initial question. "Why? Is that what happened to the other people you tried this on?"

"Some of the symptoms. These where just a few that came up on the females."

"Bonjour, Mademoiselle." Said a masculine voice as a tall figure stepped towards me. He had brown fur with blonde hair pulled back into a small pony tail. He was wearing a green French army coat, with gold buttons, and one eye stared at me. I only say one because the other was covered by a black eye patch.

"Um, Bonjour?" I said back. He kissed my hand and bowed. I felt my face most definitely turn red.

"Eet iz wonderful to meet you Meez Charolette." He said with a French accent. "My name is Patches."

"Well, it's nice to meet you. And you, formally, Boomer." I called. The purple and gold walrus waved a clawed hand in my general direction.

I then felt a prick in my arm. I looked down and saw Finitevius put a drop of fresh blood onto a Petri dish and set it under a microscope. He began to mess around with the knobs, nodding occasionally and writing down notes on a piece of paper nearby.

"Very good. Very good." He muttered. He turned towards me with what appeared to be his version of a smile- his pointed teeth where simply more prominent, and he was walking towards me like I was lunch.

"You seem to be recovering with the Chaos energy quite quickly. Now… we just have to show you how to use it…, and after some more experimenting, I should be able to use the Anarchy Beryl… hmhmhmhm wonderful." He chuckled.

His red eyes then darted past me, once more pure raw malice shown through.

"Scourge, I want you and Alicia to go patrol the perimeter and make sure no one will get through while she's being taught. This won't be effective until tomorrow when we actually start, but make sure that all precautions are made immediately."

I turned and saw Scourge roll his blue eyes.

"Sure, if I can find her."

"He's right Finitevius. The last we saw of her she was going towards the woods. You remember how long it was until she got back the last time." Miles added.

Finitevius nodded.

"Then Fiona, you go with him."

Fiona smiled and took Scourge's arm as they walked out of the room.

"And don't even think about messing with the moat again!" Boomer shouted after. I heard laughter and footsteps running down the hallway. Boomer grumbled to himself as he continued to work on some sort of contraption in the corner.

"Patches, go look in the cabinets and see if there's any suitable clothes for Charolette to wear."

The animal in question walked over to a set of dresser cabinets and opened the door. I saw what looked to be tons of shirts and pants.

I then looked down at myself. I thought I looked alright. Albeit I only had on my white tank top and a pair of bell bottoms, but it would work for me. I shrugged it off. Getting on Finitevius' bad side was not high on the list of things I wanted to do at the present period.

I walked over to where Boomer was and stared intently at his back.

"So, what did they do to the moat?" I asked. He jumped a little, but turned around to face me with a grim look on his face.

"They made a hose spray me everytime I crossed," He shuddered. "I think that was the most I'd ever had to reboot myself…" He shuddered once more and then turned around.

"Charolette, please come over here." Called Patches from the other side of the room. I obliged and stood next to him. He handed me a couple pairs of pants and shirts. I took them. "Zese should do ze trick for you."

"Thanks." I said as I looked through them. I don't think I've ever seen colors quite like these. Insanely bright shades of reds, purples, and greens showed up quite often, as well as the normal shades of blues and yellows I was used to.

"Will zey be satisfactory?"

I nodded.

"They should be fine… Oh! Um, where can I sleep? Or will I have to stay in my hospital room?" I asked to him, but ended up being the rest of the room in general.

"Well, she could always stay in Alicia's room until she gets back." Boomer suggested.

"Or, we could set up one of the hundreds of other unused rooms in the castle instead of throwing ourselves in the line of fire of Alicia's wrath." Miles countered.

"Whatever makes the rest of your lives easier," Finitevius growled. "Make up a room for her, but please leave me alone if you're going to continue to talk that loudly."

Miles and Patches guided me towards the door when Finitevius called my name.

"Charolette. Tomorrow we'll begin to test you and the Chaos Energy, so make sure you get enough rest so you won't fall asleep. Also, we don't know if the energy will keep well in your body so we need to get the experiments done as quickly as possible."

"Gotcha." I answered. "Bye Boomer." Once more, he lifted a clawed hand up in my general direction.

I followed the other two down the hallway and then up a flight of stairs to a rather roomy hallway with absolutely no cobwebs in sight. The floors were covered in a red carpet with gold fringes and it seemed to go on forever.

"So, um, is Scourge really the King or something?" I asked hesitantly. I say 'hesitantly' because once more no one was talking.

"Yes, in a matter of speaking," Answered Patches.

"It all matters in who you speak to. To me, he's the only one who people will take orders from effectively." Said Miles.

"Then he isn't a King?"

"Well, he does have a crown, he just hasn't worn it in a while."

"Why?"

"It involved an incident that happened a few months ago. Scourge was humiliated by his double, and after we got him out of prison he vowed not to put it on until he could win."

"Zat eez why zeese experiments are being done, to make 'eem stronger." Added Patches. "Once he's beaten Sonic zen 'e will wear 'is crown once more."

"That and make an even bigger pain out of himself than he already is." Miles complained.

"I don't think Scourge is that bad." I said. "He was really nice to me."

"Oui. Zat eez because Scourge eez what one might call a 'womanizer'. 'e knows how to play a woman like a deck of cards."

I sighed to myself. Scourge never acted like a womanizer around me. In fact, he was always a gentleman towards me and my friends….

"I think this will do for you." Miles said as he pushed open a door in one of the side hallways. Dust fell into the empty space in between the frame and all three of us coughed. "We'll get someone to clean this. But, what do you think?"

I stepped in first and was greeted with a lovely site. To my immediate right was a large, wooden, four poster bed with a large fluffy looking mattress in the middle. On the next wall to it was a large dresser, and next to that, a large floor to ceiling mirror. Directly across from the bed was a large window with seats cut under it out of brick in a semi-circle shape, which took up the majority of that wall. The wall to my immediate left held only a door. The whole space was decorated in gorgeous red material. And on the floor was a large red and gold Persianesque carpet.

"It's absolutely amazing." I said as I looked around. "I honestly don't think I've ever seen anything so beautiful my entire life! Thank you!" With that I threw the clothes in my arms to the floor and leapt onto the mattress. And it was as fluffy as it looked.

As I laid on the bed, I heard their boots walk around the floor, doors being opened and closed, and soon enough… silence. I sighed once more and looked out to the window. It was nearing sunset now, and through the panes I saw bare skeleton trees which reflected the glow of the sun. I yawned, and only now did I realize how tired I was, even though I had slept for ten days in a row! I pulled back the great red covers and climbed into the crisp clean sheets, and once my head touched the pillows I was out.


	3. Chapter 3: The Community

Chapter 3: The Community

Bright light. No. Get it away. Get it away now!

My eyes opened as I sat straight up in my bed. Sunlight was pouring through the large window across the room. For a brief moment, I forgot where I was, but then I remembered. How could I not? Large, talking animals weren't something I was about to forget. Then again, for another brief moment, I thought that they were all dreamt by me, but then I looked around the room and finally convinced myself that this was not a dream. And because the room wasn't a dream it meant that the animals really let me sleep here, which meant that everything that happened the day before was really real and not jut something I concocted in my unconsciousness.

Content with my reasoning I threw back the covers and jumped to the floor. Thank god the rug was there, because I'm sure brick was very cold the first thing in the morning. I walked over to the window in order to close the blinds, but I decided against it and sat on the window seat to look out. It looked to be a fairly nice day, or at least, as nice as a nice day is in a place like this. The trees were still bare, and the grass had almost a gray tint to it. I looked straight down as far as I could and saw the moat that Boomer had talked about. It looked to be fairly wide, and I could swear I saw something move. I shuddered and sat back against the brick wall.

I hope everyone was doing all right…

There was a knock at my door.

"Come in." I said. I heard it open and looked over to see Miles walk in. His hair was freshly combed and his buttons seemed to gleam in the glow of the sun flooding in the room. "Good morning."

"Good morning. You slept well?" He asked. I nodded as I walked over to him.

"Very well, thank you. I think that was the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on."

"Then, it's yours…"

I walked over to the dressers and opened one of the drawers. Sure enough I saw some of the brightly colored clothes that Patches had given to me the day before. I took out a bright red shirt and slipped it on over my tank top. It actually felt very comfortable. I then brought out another pair of pants and was about to change when Miles cleared his throat.

"Oh, sorry." I said, most definitely blushing in the process.

"It's fine. It's fine. But I came in to tell you that Finitevus is expecting you down in the lab. You remember where that is, right?"

Lab. Lab. Lab….

"Sure." I replied. "Tell him I'll be down in a couple of minutes." Miles bowed his head and left the room.

I finished changing into a pair of black pants when I walked over towards the door. I stopped dead in my tracks and looked sourly over at the unmade bed. I was quite the messy sleeper, and now my mom wasn't here to make it for me even when she wanted me to make it myself… I sighed and tried to straighten everything as best as I could. Once that was accomplished I walked over to the door and out into the hallway.

"I take a right." I said to myself as I turned down the hallway. So far so good. I made a few more turns before I had absolutely no idea where I was.

"Well this is just great. I'll be a corpse before they find me in here!"

"You're probably right. The smell would lead us straight to you." Said a silky voice from behind me. I turned slowly and saw Fiona walking towards me. She glared at me.

I don't know what I did to deserve her scorn and hatred, but it was no reason to treat me like I was some sort of retarded child that 'has' to come along for the ride of life with the normal kids.

She motioned for me to follow her. I obliged, but making sure to walk a couple steps behind her. At least if there was going to be a booby trap sprung, then she would warn me prior to it.

"Thank you for helping me." I said after a few minutes of walking in silence.

"Don't mention it." She said. " Ever." Her voice dripping with malice.

"Fine. Fine." I answered quickly.

We walked the rest of the way in silence. When we got to the door she pointed at it and continued walking down the hall.

I opened the door and walked in, muttering about Fiona.

"It's best not to get involved with her. She'll just stab you in the back later."

I looked over and saw Finitevus walking over to me.

"I believe it. Is she like that to everyone?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Just other females and stupid people. Now, about your training, have you ever fought anyone before?"

He asked, walking over to a large table. I followed.

"I've gotten into some disagreements with my mom before, nothing too violent… but that's about it." He stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly, his red eyes gleaming in the low light.

"So, you've never brutally fought anyone before?"

I shook my head. He sighed.

"This might take longer than I had originally planned. Fine, I supposed I can teach you how to harness the Chaos Energy but you'll need to learn the basics in fighting…." He growled, as he walked over to a speaker in the wall. He pressed a button and called for Patches to come down. He replied that he'd be down shortly.

"I send him to do one little errand, just one and he does it wrong."

"Who? Scourge?" I asked tentatively.

"Yes, Scourge. When I sent him to your world I expected him to bring me someone who could fight as well as have a grasp on the vocal chords. How else would they be able to survive here?"

"Well, if everyone here fights like Fiona talks then I can understand the fighting portion, but… Why would you need someone who has a 'grasp on vocal chords'?"

"I need someone like that… someone like you, because in order to use the Chaos Energy, the summoner needs to call on it. You can't simply will Chaos to happen or else it will run amuck. Because you can sing, you can channel the energy through your voice. You see, our vocal chords are much stronger than a normal human being's. But a singer's voice has to be strong in order to do what they must do, and that is why. Does this answer your question?"

I nodded.

"Very much so."

"Good."

At that moment Patches entered, now dressed in a blue and red coat with gold trimming.

"What seems to be zee problem?" He asked as he walked over to Finitevus. "You seemed very urgent."

"I still am." Finitevus snapped. "She doesn't know how to fight in combat. You, being from the military, must've trained at least some soldiers to fight. Yes?"

Patches stood at attention and nodded.

"I have trained some of zee best in Moebius." He replied.

"Yeah, too bad I'm not from Moebius." I muttered under my breath.

"Good, then I want her trained as best as you can as you can." He said. His eyes then turned towards me.

"And don't forget young one, the faster you help me with this, the sooner you can go home."

With that, he walked away, his black cape once again swinging dramatically behind him.

Home. It seemed weird now that I wasn't even on the same planet as it anymore. Only a day here, and already I seem accustomed to the idea that I was 'here'. Not home. With family. With friends. With loved ones. I sighed and looked over at Patches who seemed to be in some sort of deep thought.

"What? Don't know where to begin?" I asked him as I picked up a small glass orb from a nearby table.

"Precisely." He answered as he grabbed the orb from my hands. "And do not play weeth zees. Eet eez a bombe zat eez strong enough to blow up 'alf of zee castle."

"Oh. Sorry." I said as he placed it back on the table. It rolled around a bit when it found a groove in the table and stopped. "Uh, shouldn't it have a holder or container if it can do that then? I mean, right now it could just fall and blow."

"Don't worry, eet only works eef eet eez thrown by fleesh and blood. So we are fine." He said walking over to the door. "So are you ready? Your training will begin now. Please. Follow me."

I walked over to the door and took one last look at the little orb. It gleamed in the light of the laboratory with some sort of sick humor. It definitely seemed like something Finitevus would have lying around. Just in case…

Walking down the hallway with Patches I noticed that every so often he would turn around and look at me. Just briefly, and then turn back around to continue walking. Soon we were outside the castle and on the other side of the moat.

"Well, are we going to begin?" I asked. Patches nodded and smiled at me.

"Yes, we are. Twenty laps around zee moat. And don't fall in."

I looked at him like he was on fire.  
"You're joking. The moat? It must be a half a mile wide the whole way!"

"Actually it's almost a full mile the whole way." Said Scourge as he walked up beside me. "Twenty? Really Patches? Seems a bit much for her first day."

I looked at him. His black leather jacket looked to be freshly polished, and his glasses seemed to have a fresh coat of paint. Either that, or he just seemed like a beacon of hope from this seemingly unfair training.

Patches sighed.

"Oh? And what will she do when she goes up against zee Freedom Fighters? Huh? She'll need to run fast enough to get away, or to go get 'elp. She can't do anysing if she doesn't have a good heart. And I mean anysing."

Scourge looked at Patches and then back to me. His light blue eyes bore into mine and he smiled- teeth gleaming in the sun.

"All right then, we'll make it a game. Sound good to you?" Patches glared at Scourge, probably for taking away his pupil.

"I suppose. You mean to play zee 'ide and go seek." He said with a hint of fear in his voice. "I don't sink you should do zat to her. She eez not ready for somesing like zat."

"Ready for what? Hide and go Seek? I always used to play that." I interjected. "What are your rules?" I asked Scourge.

He smiled and paced slowly around me.

"Well, it's not too much different from what you know of it. But, when I play, the person who's 'it' has a weapon. Like a knife," He said from behind me. I heard metal on metal and before I knew what was happening I felt his blade on my neck. My breathing caught and then began to quicken. He chuckled in my ear and took it away. "Or some other weapon. And once they find the other players they need to 'kill' them before they get back to the designated area. I'd make it to wherever Patches is right now for this game. So, do you want to play?"

I stared at him as he held his un-armed hand out to me. His eyes were now hidden from my view and I was still breathing hard.

"And what's the point in playing the game like this?" I asked.

Scourge walked forwards so he was about half a foot away from my face.

"To help you get the feel for being in the field. You won't always be in a laboratory or some other controlled environment forever, Sweetie. So, you have to get your body used to the adrenaline from a situation like that."

I stared at him, my eyes wide in fear for a good thirty seconds before I finally nodded. Patches sighed and covered his face with one of his hands.

"Zees eez not a good idea…" I heard him mutter.

"Great." Said Scourge as he gave me a large, toothy grin. You go and hide anywhere you like. But, no castle. The last time we almost took out the lab. So, stay outside Kay?"

I nodded.

"You're not really going to kill me are you?" I asked as I remember Patches reluctance to my playing. Scourge smiled and began to toss his knife up in the air. He closed his eyes and continued to toss.

"One hundred…ninety nine….ninety eight…ninety seven…"

I took off running into the forest nearby and didn't stop until I came to a large, tree. It must've been really old or it wouldn't have been that gnarled up in the roots or the vines. I walked around it. In awe of its presence amongst the other trees. It must've been at least ten feet in diameter, and two hundred feet tall. Then again, my math isn't what it should be, so my guess was probably wrong.

"TWENTY!" Came Scourge's voice. I panicked, and began climbing the monstrous roots towards the leaf covered limbs at the top.

"TEN!"

I grabbed one of the branches and pulled myself up. The branch I was on must've been at least a foot thick… I then grabbed onto another and pulled myself farther and farther up.

"HERE I COME!" He shouted. I gasped, pulled myself up one more higher and stationed myself so I could see the clearing at the bottom of the tree.

For a couple of minutes I sat there, not knowing where he was, or how I was supposed to get down, or…

I slapped my head.

Calm down. Calm down. This is what he wants to test. This is what he wants to show you. The thrill of… of… well 'battle' wouldn't be politically correct since it was one sided… Well, I guess I'd think of the politically correct term later. Right now, I just wanted to win the game. So I sat in the tree and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And for a change of pace, I waited some more.

Soon, the sun would set and I'd be at a complete disadvantage since I had no way of seeing in the dark. I sighed and looked down at the same clearing I've been staring at all day. No footprints. No leaves disturbed. Completely untouched. Some part of me wondered if he had even set foot into the woods. What if he's just sitting there with his arms crossed and one of his one of a kind smiles.

"I bet he's going to wait until I come back and then rub it in my face for being so gullible." I muttered to myself. I then heard a twig snap from somewhere down below. I froze and moved only my eyes. I couldn't see anything, which meant he could be on the other side of the tree. It was large enough that I wouldn't be able to see him if he was.

My breathing began to quicken. I know he said 'kill', but something tells me that he would take it to the extremes. I began to shake, but then, the cool night air was beginning to settle in. I felt goose bumps on my arms as I tried to quietly rub them to keep them from getting numb. I looked down again and saw a shadow looming from below. I saw ears form from the shadow and my breath caught. It was coming around the tree now.

My breath caught as I saw a small little bunny hop into view.

It nibbled on some clover leaves and eventually hopped away. My heart was still pounding heavily after it left my sight. Where was he?

Eventually night fell and there was still no sign of Scourge. Luckily it was about a full-ish moon tonight so I could see the bottom of the tree at least. I was now getting tired of my position and I figured that I might as well move closer to the ground so I could make a getaway if necessary. So, I slowly climbed down, keeping my eyes on a constant lookout for Scourge if he emerged. I then dropped down in between a large root which continued to give me cover from sight and the wind and would also give me a clear path to run if I needed to. I settled down and eventually I fell asleep.

SNAP!

My eyes burst open. How long had I been asleep? The moon was on the opposite side of the tree, so I saw its great shadow from the light blue glow. The small clearing that the tree made around itself was bathed in the glow and something… or…someone was here. My breathing quickened, as did my heart rate. It's just a test. Just because he has a knife, doesn't mean he'll kill you. Scare you, yes. Kill you, no.

I looked to where I entered the clearing. That's where I would go. That's where I would run. But, where was he? I heard the grass being stepped on, and then what seemed to be something jumping on the roots. And up the branches. I held my breath. A 'thunk'.

"So, you decided to leave your hideaway, huh, sweetie?" Came Scourge's voice from above me. "Smart move. Your scent is concentrated here, so it masks wherever else you've been." I heard him pull the knife out of the tree, and his shoes coming into contact with the lower branches. He's coming down. I shrank back against the tree. Groping around I found a rock and kept it clutched in my hand. My only form of protection against this insane adrenaline game.

I heard him land on the grass nearby.

"Where are you Charolette?" He called softly. "I know you're tired and hungry. So is Patches. Yes, he's still waiting for ya. How do I know you're here? Well, this is the last place to look. So, lets just get this over with. I'll give ya till the count of ten… One,"

As he counted I firmly grasped the rock in my hand and somewhere around eight lobbed it into the woods the other way from where I would need to go. He stopped counting and I heard him bound into the woods. I took this opportunity to get up and run.

The woods where much darker now, and even with the light of the moon I could barely see in front of me. I tripped a few times, but I'd always continue to run. My breathing was now quite loud, and I 'm sure he's figured out that I didn't go that way. Heck, he probably knew the moment he heard. He was probably coming after me as we speak. He was probably waiting up ahead for me so he could ambush me. He was probably-no!

I shook my head and ran harder. This was just part of the game he wanted me to play. He just wanted to scare me.

"I'm following you, Charolette!" I heard from somewhere behind me. I ran faster. It was working.

From the light of the moon I thought I could see the outline of the castle somewhere in front of me. This in turn gave me hope and the cramps that where forming in my side became unimportant. All that mattered was getting to Patches.

Then, I heard fast footfalls from behind me. I turned even though my better judgement told me not to. I saw Scourge running after me. His eyes where hidden from underneath his sunglasses, and his sharp, white teeth gleamed in the moonlight. That brief moment it took me to fully understand that he was behind me was enough time for me to lose track of where I was going and trip over a root. That one, conveniently placed root that knew exactly where I would be running. I felt Scourge trip over the same root, and since he was running to catch up to me he had enough momentum to fly right over me and skid aways.

I put my hands on the ground, revved my feet and then pushed off running faster and faster. I felt, saw and heard a silver object fly by me and land in a tree. As I passed I saw the knife wiggling around in the tree. Then,

"I'm right behind you." I screamed, and a blast of yellow erupted from my very being. I heard Scourge yell but he was still close behind me.

I then burst out of the tree line and saw Patches standing halfway between the forest's edge and the moat of the castle. I saw his eyes light up when he saw me, and then just as quickly turn into fear. I knew who was behind me and I ran. Oh, how I ran. I reached out my hand to Patches, and as I was going to tap his hand, an unbeatable force wrapped his arms around my legs, sending the both of us to the ground. I saw Patches hand pass by me and then the ground. After our bodies stopped sliding I opened my eyes and saw Scourge slowly release my legs and stalk towards me, his teeth still gleaming in the blue moonlight. It gave his green skin an unearthly glow. I cringed. Who was this?

He put his teeth to my neck and slowly bit down. I felt the sharpness prick my skin, and as I was sure he was going to bite down and draw blood I felt the warm breath of his chuckle escape onto my neck.

"I win."

I fainted out of sheer fear and exhaustion.


	4. Chapter 4: The Marker

Chapter 4: The Marker

Faster. Faster. Faster. Faster. Run. Run. Run. As fast as I can. Can HE catch me? Faster. Faster. Don't let him get you. Faster. Run. Faster! Run! FASTER! RUN!

I screamed and quickly buried myself into the blankets that surrounded my body.

"He's after me. He's after me and he's going to kill me. He's-,"

"Not going to hurt anyone." Interrupted a strong masculine voice. I felt someone's hand on top of the mass of blankets. They attempted to pat me, very comfortingly. "He's not going to hurt you at all. You're safe Charolette." The voice continued. I opened my eyes and saw a floral pattern looking right back at me. Peony, if I was correct.

I then slowly, carefully worked my way out of the blankets and saw Miles. His blue eyes were soft and concerned. His slivery gray hair looked so light. Like a halo or something… I sighed and simply laid back farther into the fluffy pillow on my bed. The curtains were closed so no sunlight, if it was indeed daylight, shown through.

Miles reached out to me and began to slowly stroke my hair. I breathed out slowly and closed my eyes.

"You okay?" He asked. I nodded slowly.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" I shook my head.

"Just stay here please." I requested.

"Alright." He said. And he must've stayed like that for the majority of the day, or night, or whatever time it was. But it was nice, just to lie there and feel protected. To feel like nothing could hurt me. Or-

"What are you doing here?" I heard Miles ask curtly. I felt the acidity in his voice.

"I wanted to see how the kid's doin' Miles. Do you have a problem with that?"

I recognized that voice. That was Scourge's voice.

I recalled last night, or morning… I remembered his eyes and the way he looked at me through his sunglasses. The way he pinned me down and nearly… ripped my throat… his breath… his teeth… my neck…

I kept my eyes shut. I decided to keep my eyes shut for now and let Miles handle him.

"Yes, I do Scourge. And were Charolette awake I'm sure she would to. You scared her half to death last night. You're a scary person Scourge, and to someone like her-" Miles said. I felt him stand up, his hand leaving my hair.

"Look Miles, I know what happened, and I wanted to check on her myself. You've been here since she got back in the castle, so why don't you go get some sleep?" Scourge asked him.

"Why don't you? I've heard you pacing up and down the hallway every hour. And you've been scaring the living daylights out of her beforehand."

Their voices were rising now. I slowly opened on eye. From the light of the hallway, I could see Scourge's leather jacket and the gold buttons on Mile's coat gleaming. Then I saw their eyes too. Both sets of blue eyes seemed to glow with malice. Trained on their opponent.

"Well at least I don't have the audacity to stay near her like you. The scent you give off is disgusting!"

"So? You're the same way towards any other female."

"But for me it's normal. For you though, it's something completely different. Just make sure that you keep yourself under control. You remember what happened to-,"

"I know what happened!"

I closed my eyes.

For a few brief moments there was nothing but Miles's breathing. In and out. In and out. Silent fury.

"Why don't you go for a while? I promise she'll still be here when you get back." Footsteps and a door slamming. Then, a few, slow, deliberate footsteps towards me. They stopped. I pretended to breath in deeply and readjust myself so I was facing the opposite way of Scourge. I heard him chuckle to himself.

"Ya know, you aren't too convincing Charolette." I felt him crawl on top of the covers next to me and begin to stroke my hair the ways Miles had been doing. "For being new to the game you did extraordinarily well. The Doctor was impressed that you'd managed to use some of the Chaos energy on your own. I was impressed. Not to mention, temporarily blinded."

At that, I burst out laughing. I didn't care. He knew I was awake anyway. I eventually turned around so I was facing him, and tears were still running down my face. I couldn't help it. I could see the straight look on his face which was dripping with sarcasm.

He was staring intently at me, and soon I too was staring back.

"What's the deal between you and Miles?" I asked eventually. He groaned and rolled so he was lying on his back facing the ceiling.

"THAT is a long story Charolette. One I don't feel like retelling."

"At least tell me what happened." He blinked and looked over at me. His sunglasses out of the way tucked up on his forehead.

"Let's just say, a girl happened. Someone he cared about. Then 'boom' she was out of his life. Like that." He said, snapping his fingers for emphasis.

"Oh. I see. And, he has similar feelings for me if I heard correctly."

He nodded.

"I wouldn't go returning it if I were you though. You see, after she was gone he became what he is now."

"What's that?"

"A mastermind who's only thought pattern is how he can bend a situation to his will. He's not a fun guy to play around with. Trust me on this okay?" Scourge asked as he looked over at me. "He likes to mess with people's minds. He probably wouldn't do anything to you, at first… but one slip up, and your mentality will fall."

I shook my head, unbelieving that Miles could do something like that to someone.

"How do you know?"

"Because of Alicia. She and Miles had a relationship going for a while some time ago, and then she did something that didn't fit into his plans. Ever since then, she's been a little puppet to him. So, be careful."

I nodded and slowly nudged my head over so it lay right next to his chest. I could faintly hear his heart beat. I was somewhat surprised at this since I thought he didn't have one….

"So, do you think that my training will speed up the process so I can go home sooner?" I asked cautiously. I felt Scourge shrug.

"I don't really know. It all depends on how things go from here. A bunch of stuff could happened. Why? You miss your mom?"

I thought about this for a second and then nodded my head slowly. I felt his chest jump up and down as he chuckled.

"What?" I asked as I sat up on my elbow. He looked at me and smiled, his teeth still gleaming like before…

"Nothin' Charolette. Nothin'. Why don't you change and then we can go downstairs before Miles gets back?"

I nodded and slowly began to crawl out from under the covers on the opposite side of the bed when I realized just how cold the room was. I pulled the covers with me, Scourge also slowly going along for the ride. As he was about halfway across the bed I stopped pulling.

"Will you get off please?" I asked. He looked at me with one eye. Shook his head.

I fumed, gathered up the covers I had in my arms and ran towards the wall. I started slowly, but once I gained enough speed I didn't stop until I nearly hit the wall. The only thing that stopped me from doing so was the big wad of body on top of the straining material. Then I heard a groan from behind me. I turned around and saw Scourge on the ground, picking up his sunglasses and his eyes wide open in shock. Then they trained on me and he quickly scrambled up. I guess I hadn't heard him fall. Oops.

"What did you do that for?" He asked.

"I asked you to move." I answered, walking over to the dresser. I assumed since he was talking and could stand that he was perfectly fine.

"Well you could've warned me that I would've fallen five feet to the floor."

I shrugged, letting the excess cover fall to the floor around my legs, creating a small canopy of warmth. Now what to wear, what to wear….?

"You could've warned me that you would've nearly chewed out my jugular." I retaliated, glad that my argument had some sort of validity in it.

"Then, you should've listened to Patches." He said as he walked up behind me. I felt his arms wrap around my waist and his teeth once again at my neck. The night before came to mind and I immediately struggled out of his grasp and turned around to face him. His mouth was turned into that same unfamiliar, cruel smile.

"I play to win Charolette. Which means losing isn't an option. I expect you to play the same way."

I stared at his eyes, and only when he finally blinked, I looked away. I felt the warmth of his arms leave me and I continued to pick out a pair of clothes. The creak of the bed alerted me as to where he was.

"You do know I wouldn't hurt you on purpose Charolette." He said. I didn't say anything as I brought out a fluorescent lime green top and an old pair of cut jeans.

He sighed. Then I too sighed. There was no way I could change if he was in the room. Not easily anyway. I hunched over and began to undress myself under the cover of the blanket. Soon I was changed and I let the blanket fall away. I turned and saw him get off the bed.

"What?" I asked. He smiled once more and shook his head.

"You've changed a lot since I've meet you already… That's all." He motioned to the door. "Shall we?"

I nodded and followed him out. He closed my door.

"So, what does Finitevus want to do today? Play mad scientist or have me go through some more training?" I ask.

"He'll always want to play mad scientist Charolette. And probably even more so now because he knows that you can use the Chaos powers."

"But that was an accident. I mean, who knows if I could do it again?" He stopped in the hallway and stared at me straight in the eyes again.

"Because you were scared. And you can become scared again at any time. I, at the very least can make sure of that until you're able to do it on your own."

He then turned around continued to walk. I wasn't sure whether to feel even more threatened or not, but I still followed him anyways.

When we reached the doorway to the lab, there was a note indicating us to meet by the forest entrance.

"Signed Finitevus." I said looking at Scourge. "Do we have to go?"

He looked down at me and sighed.

"Yeah, because if I don't take you up there, then I'll probably fall victim to some sort of fur-loss potion. Let's go shorty." He said walking away. I stood in shock for a brief moment before I ran to catch up to him.

"That was rude." I stated.

"I know, it's what I do." He replied nonchalantly.

I nodded in recognition of his trait.


	5. Chapter 5: The Maelstrom

Chapter 5: The Maelstrom

As soon as we stepped outside we were greeted with a big bright ball of light otherwise known as the sun. I didn't realize how late in the day it was until then. Nearly sunset…

I froze in my tracks. I would NOT under ANY circumstances have a repeat of last night. Now way. No how. No nothing.

"Ya comin' Charolette?" Asked Scourge.

I folded my arms across my chest and resolutely shook my head.

"I refuse."

At this he grinned and walked up to me so his large, black nose was touching my small tan one. He chuckled.

"Good luck with that." He said as he wrapped his arms around my waist and threw me over his shoulder.

"What are you doing? Put me down now Scourge! Scourge!" I yelled as he walked to the back of the castle once more.

I then saw Finitevus and Boomer waiting for us. Both were smiling quite broadly.

"This is ridiculous! You can't make me do this! Put. Me. Down!"

Needless to say, the next thing I saw was a red ladybug eating a blade of grass in front of my eyeball. I heard laughter from higher latitude. My arms and legs were definitely feeling some pain as well. Slowly, I sat up and stared at the male animals who towered above me.

_So THIS is what it feels like to be a guinea pig._

Boomer held out a hand for me. I took it and he lifted me up off the ground and then lightly set me back down on my feet.

"I trust you slept well?" Came Finitevus' cool voice. I turned my head sharply to face his direction.

"I did thank you. But you really expect me to go back in there and not completely fall apart mentally?" I asked.

He nodded.

"I know that if you can figure out, if only subconsciously, how to use the Chaos, that keeping your sanity shouldn't be a problem. Anyways, you'll be up against Patches tonight."

My mouth hung open in disbelief.

"You want me to fight an opponent who is partially blind?" This comment alone roused another chorus of chuckles from the peanut gallery.

"Patches wouldn't really count that as a disability. Anyway, I think your top priority would be to stay away from his blade." Said Scourge.

"What?"

"Yeah, he has a really mean right parry, so watch out for that." Boomer added. He pulled out a sword from behind him and handed it to me. I stared at it, completely dumbfounded.

"But last night, he didn't want me to do this at all. And anyway, I don't know how to use a sword."

"No better time to learn." Finitevus said as he took the sword from Boomer's hands and placed it in mine. "Need I remind you that to go back home that you must help us with our experiment. We're also on a strict schedule with another party who wishes to know more about the Chaos in general." He looked at me directly in the eyes. I nearly fainted out of fear.

"Do you understand?"

I nodded.

"Good. Now, tonight, Patches will do precisely what Scourge did last night. Though, the both of you will have weapons. He'll go easy on you when he finds you, just to give you a little taste of how to work a blade and events will continue from there. Got it?"

"Uh, sure?"

He smiled at me and motioned towards the forest. Then he walked away.

"Go get 'em kid." Said Boomer, pushing me forwards.

"Do I have to hide again? Or do I-,"

"Just go in there and wing it." Scourge interrupted. He leaned in close to my ear and whispered, " You'll do fine."

My heart leapt and I ran off into the forest once more.

"Why the heck did I ever talk to him?" I muttered to myself as I made my way back to my tree. "I never would've been in this mess if I hadn't talked to him."

Needless to say, I was talking about Scourge, the furry mongrel. i still remembered the way he sauntered up to my group of friends in the chorus room. He didn't look half bad as a human…

I shook my head as I used my sword to push away a couple of underbrush.

"No, Charolette," I told myself. "He's an animal. And besides… he's got Fiona."

Soon, I walked into my clearing and saw my wonderfully sturdy tree right in the center. Already, the sun made the underside of the branches look ten times more menacing than they had the night before.

"I wonder how long it'll take him to find me," I thought out loud as I leaned up against a giant root.

"Not long at all." Said a voice from above me. My jaw dropped as I looked up. There was Patches, all ready in the tree, brandishing his sword. He smiled and then jumped off the tree, landing a few feet in front of me. I dropped my sword.

At this, he sighed, and his shoulders dropped in exasperation.

"Deed you really 'ave to do zat?" He asked. When I didn't respond he motioned to my sword. "Pick eet up."

I obliged, but very slowly, and I never took my eyes off him once until the cool metal was in my hands once more and I was standing upright facing him. I then took a moment to brush my hair out of the way. That was probably one of the most stupid things I could've done. Ever.

Patches screamed as he ran towards me, his sword behind him at his side like he was ready to thrust. I yelped and dived under one of the mammoth roots as he lodged his sword into the wood. I crawled forwards quickly and then ran out into the open area. He put his foot on the bark, pulled once and the sword came out. He walked back out, smiling quite fiercely. I shivered, though, I don't really know if it was because of the decrease in temperature or out of fright.

"Zat was very good Meez Charolette." He said, twirling his sword around once. "Now, how about zis?" He asked as he lunged.

_When did he get so close!_

I jumped backwards and swung to the right with my sword. I felt the vibration of the metal as they connected. Patches immediately swiped his sword underneath my own and put it to my neck as I righted myself, sword hanging uselessly at my side.

"Well," I said. "that kind of sucks."

Patches nodded. "Yes, eet kind of does." He took his sword away and then lowered it to his side. "Why don't you try attacking instead?" My eyes widened.

"I couldn't attack you! Your eyepatch!" I said in shock. Patches sighed.

"Do you theenk I care? Heet me!" He screamed opening his arms wide.

I swallowed my saliva and quickly lunged forwards on my legs as I had seen him do. And despite his arms being so wide, he blocked me effortlessly.

"Again," He said. So I lunged. Over. And over. And over. And over again.

Eventually, I could hardly breathe. He then walked calmly up to me, as if blocking my attacks didn't require any sort of energy at all.

"Your lunges have eemproved very well." He said. I nodded at him, sweat popping up in my hair line.

"Thanks. Not so bad yourself." I returned. He then began to laugh. I looked at him and saw his fine, white teeth gleaming in the moonlight. I also noticed that his eyes were closed.

_Now._

I lunged at him, screaming as loud as I could. This caught him off guard, as my sword crashed against his, a bright yellow light lit up the clearing and the metal once again reverberating through my very being. I pushed his sword away with the hilt of my own and practically tackled him, my elbow laying on his chest and my sword hand pinning down his own.

Some of my sweat dripped down. I smiled. He looked like he was going to be sick.

"Patches?" I asked him. I quickly rolled off him as he slowly sat up. He was shaking violently, and out of nowhere, he coughed up blood.

"Patches!" I screamed as I dropped my sword and put my arms around his shaking shoulders. "Are you okay? Speak to me Patches, come on!"

"He's fine Charolette." Said a voice from somewhere above me.

"Finitevus?" I asked, looking up. It was in vain since it was now sufficiently nighttime.

"Yes, it's me." Came his voice again. "I'm speaking through a little contraption Boomer concocted. It allows me to see everything that's going on from inside my lab. Trust me, Patches will be okay."

"Okay? Look at him! He's shaking like a leaf!" I screamed.

"It's only because you used your Chaos my dear." He said. I could practically hear him smiling.

Patches groaned and held his arms.

"Patches," Finitevus spoke. "Will you be able to continue?"

Slowly, without responding, Patches stood up, using me as a support and just barely nodded his head.

"Good. Please continue."

Patches nodded for me to pick up his sword.

"You don't have to do this anymore Patches." I said to him as I handed him his sword. He shook his head.

"Eet eez…fine." He said hoarsely. "Continue Meez Charolette." His sword hand went up, gracefully, if not slowly, into a guard.

I inhaled sharply and grimaced. This seemed harshly unfair. As I lunged at him, I only did so half heartedly, not wanting to hurt him at all.

After a few minutes of this he put his hand up.

"Charolette, zees eez ridiculous. I know you're capable of much much more zan zat. Now, attack me."

I shook my head.

"No, I don't want to hurt you anymore."

"Charolette," Came Finitevus' voice. "If you're fighting someone and refuse to kill them, they will not show the same mercy to you. They will kill you if given the chance."

"Who says I'm going to be fighting anyone!" I questioned. Silence. "What else haven't you told me?"

"We really shouldn't keep her in zee dark." Patches said.

"Fine." Finitevus sighed. "Come back to my laboratory right now." I heard the sound of something flying away.

Patches staggered forwards and stumbled. I dropped my sword and caught him about a foot before he hit the ground.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry." I apologized.

He shook his head and coughed once more.

"Eet eez fine." He answered. "Eet just might take a couple meenutes for me to get used to my bearings."

"Still…maybe I could carry you back?" I offered. He hoarsely chuckled.

"No need. I'll be fine. Look," He said, offering his hand to me. I took it. "Eet's nearly stopped shaking. I'll be ready to go shortly."

I nodded and laid him on the ground. I did notice that his breath was smoother.

"So, how'd you get that eye patch?" I asked him.

"Eet eez somesing I do not wish to discuss… I hope you don't mind…" He said.

I shook my head. "It's fine… I'm uh, sorry I asked."

"No, eet eez good to be curious. Just make sure you are not too curious."

"Gotcha..." I said. "So, how'd they get you to do this since you didn't want me to last night?"

He smiled.

"Because I knew zat I would go easier on you zan Scourge would. Trust me; I've gone up against him before… He eez scary."

I agreed. Totally and completely.

"But, you didn't exactly hold back yourself." I said.

"Eh, I do what I can." He shrugged.

He propped himself up onto his elbow.

"I guess we'd better get back to zee lab." He said, looking beyond the trees.

"I guess." I agreed. "Do you need some help?"

He shook his head as he stood up.  
"I'll be fine." He said as he took one groggy step forwards. He nearly fell again. "On second thought, why don't you carry my sword."


	6. Chapter 6: The Star

Chapter 6- The Star

It was a good hour later when Patches and I walked through the castle's front door. By then, it was very much dark out, as the moon was covered by cloud cover, and I was freezing. Why oh why did I only wear a tank top? How stupid could I possibly get?

I then took a good look at my surroundings and answered my own question easily.

"Maybe you should just go to bed, Patches." I said as the great door slammed shut behind us. The walls shook, and dust crumbled down on top of us.

"No, I am fine." He said as he finally stood up straight. He turned towards me and held out his hand expectantly. It took me a moment to realize that he was waiting for his sword. I promptly placed it into his hand and he sheathed it effortlessly. I, on the other hand, was still awkwardly carrying mine.

"Come, to zee lab." He said as he began to walk away. I followed him, my two steps counting for his one.

It still amazed me just how much larger in proportion these guys were compared to me. Back in the gym I was taller than the Doctor.

_Wonder if I could get a growth-spurt now…_

I then wondered what it would be like to be of equal height as Patches and Scourge… if anything, it would be easier for Scourge to 'kill' me again. My face then flushed in some form of realization. The warm of his breath that just yesterday seemed so frightening, now seemed quite intimate, and I could practically feel my face burning.

I shook my head and noticed that we were almost to our destination.

_Let's find out what you're doing Doc._ I thought as Patches opened the door to the lab. An eerie light seemed to make the entire doorway glow menacingly, and I walked into it without any sort of hesitation.

Inside was everyone I had met here. Fiona and Scourge both sitting on a bench, his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Boomer working on another sort of freaky 'nuts and bolts' machine. Miles standing next to the Doctor, his icy blue eyes looking right into mine. And the Doctor, who was leaning up against a table covered in papers .

The door closed behind me as Patches walked past me to Finitevus.

He nodded to him and then sat in a nearby chair. No doubt he was still fairly injured. I swallowed my saliva and gazed into the heated eyes of Finitevus, the mastermind behind my being here.

"What's going on?" I asked him, my hands clenched into fists at my sides.

Finitevus smiled. Yeah, it creeped me out.

"Well, Charolette, you are here to help science, of course. Come here." He said, motioning for me to move closer.

Against my better judgment I complied. My only reason being that I couldn't very well get home without their help, and they wouldn't give it unless I helped them.

I walked up to the table in between him and Miles. I saw papers. Diagrams. Letters. Ancient texts. You name it, and it was more than likely on that table.

"So? These are just a bunch of papers. What am I looking at?" I asked placing my hands on my hips.

He motioned for me to look.

Sighing, I picked up a personal letter. One from a 'Mammoth Mogul'. The paper was a dark, creamy gray, with the symbol of a great elephant with large tusks in the center of a circle with writing around it. The letter read:

"_Dr._

_I'm most interested to see how your plan will work out. I would be more than honored to fund your little project as long as I get to take part in the planning and get to see the results. You know the powers of the Chaos interest me more than anything. _

_Just don't forget that if you choose to give this information to any other party, the entire project goes up in smoke. Including the subject, who looks to be a good specimen from the research given by Scourge. I would hate to kill a young girl, and you know this. Though, I'm sure you also do not want this information given to the wrong hands. _

_Give my regards to your team, and the best of luck with the infusion. Let me know how it turns out._

_-Mogul"_

"What on Earth-," I asked myself, picking up another, similar piece of paper.

"_Dr._

_How is the girl's condition? You haven't told me since you initially brought her here. Part of our bargain was that I know every single detail of what transpires. You wouldn't want me to pull the plug would you? I can always get another mad scientist working on something like this. One who won't disobey me. _

_Also, if you plan on continuing, if I should pull away, I would like to know how you're going to retrieve a Chaos Emerald without grabbing the attention and fury of the Freedom Fighters. Especially if the girl doesn't make it._

_-Mogul"_

I finished the letter when I noticed one more letter which was still in a ripped open envelope lying on the table. I grabbed it up and looked at Finitevus.

"I just received this one today. I figure you might like to see what the 'good patron' says." Finitevus said with a slight grimace in his face.

Slowly, I opened the envelope and took out a letter with the heading similar to the ones I had just read.

"_Dr. _

_I'm delighted to hear that the girl has survived the infusion. Of course the next trick will be to begin training her to be able to fight in battle. If we're to fully grasp the concept of this experiment then she needs to be able to utilize the power of the Chaos at any given time. And with the Freedom Fighters growing in numbers, we need to know now. _

_I want to meet her in one week's time. That should be ample enough of it to be able to get her used to her powers and to the world here. After that, she'll need to be put into battle where we can attempt to determine what needs to be done in order to transfer this type of power to one of our kind. _

_Enclosed are tickets to be able to get into my casino. Only four of you need to come, and if any more wish to join, then they will need to pay like the rest of my customers. _

_My regards to Miss Charolette._

_-Mogul"_

I stared at the letter in my hands with thousands upon thousands of question buzzing through my mind. However, only one coherent thought managed to get through the jumbled mess.

"Who's Mogul?" I asked, looking at Finitevus. He scowled at me, as though the very name itself brought bad experiences into his thoughts.

"Unfortunately, he is our patron," Finitevus started. "As you saw in the letters, we needed Chaos Emeralds. Not the Anarchy Beryl found her in Moebius which automatically produce a negative effect on any test subject we've tried. Mogul, unfortunately, was the only one we could think of who could access retrieving one of these without seeming too suspicious. At least, as least unsuspicious as one like himself could possibly get. Either way, we are now allied with him so we can continue our research."

"I'm just glad we don't need to ask Eggman for help." Said Boomer.

"Yeah, that would've been twice as annoying as Mogul. I mean, come on, who could possibly be THAT egotistical to name an entire army after himself?" Added Fiona.

"Egotistical as he is, at least he doesn't gnaw away at your ears every time he opens his jaw." Scourge said.

"Like you?" Fiona asked. Scourge smiled with his large, sharp teeth and bit Fiona's ear. She giggled.

I cringed at the sight of them, but then went right around blushing at the thought of his teeth grazing my own bare neck.

"Save your pleasantries for your own time." Finitevus said sharply. He then turned his gaze to me. "You must also be wondering about the Freedom Fighters?"

I nodded.

"They were mentioned once or twice in a threatening manner. I'm assuming that they're not friends of yours?"

"Correct. In essence, they are our… doubles. For lack of a better term. You see, they have this annoying little habit of sticking their noses into other people's business if it has to do with their general well being."

"So do we." Miles said. "Which then creates the great question of who's right and wrong?" He folded his arms across his chest, which allowed me a glimpse of the muscles in his arms. As to WHY I was looking, I have no idea. Perhaps it was the feeling of general intense observation of the deathly obvious that seemed to be protruding into the mindset of every living being in the room. Or, perhaps it was simply my curiosity as a female. A question I don't think I'd ever be able to answer.

"So, you are the 'bad guys' to them?" I asked skeptically, leaning up against the table alongside Miles.

"We are the 'bad guys', as you coin the term, to us as well." Finitevus said. "We don't have too much say in the matter, seeing that we're the exact opposites of the doubles that live in Mobius. That's the 'good' version of the world we're presently residing in."

"That's were you come in Charolette."

I turned my head to see Scourge walking in my direction. His sunglasses were down, which I assumed was for effect only since the room was so dark to begin with. Fiona was sitting on the chair alone. I smiled.

"You see, my double, Sonic, recently booted me offa my throne and I wanna get him back. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to beat him with the Anarchy Beryl found in this world, so we figured 'Why not a Chaos Emerald?" He came right in front of my face and placed his hands on the table behind me, around my waist.

"And since Chaos Emeralds are much more powerful than the Anarchy Beryl we needed to find a way to convert the energy to one of us. Though, everytime we tried, it didn't end too well…"

He growled the last sentence, his warm breath protruding into the personal bubble of my face.

"So, in order to continue with this, we needed to find a way to safely convert a Chaos Emerald's power into another being entirely. We had some bad tries until we finally decided to use a human." Miles interrupted sourly. I glance over at him to see that his tails were bristling to points. His icy blue eyes glaring directly at the side of Scourge's head.

"Exactly. So, I go to your world, bring you back here, and you know the rest." Scourge finished, slowly pulling off his sunglasses and placing them on his head. He pushed off the table and turned to face Miles.

"Now, all we have to do is see how you react to the Emerald, what you can do with the power, and then convert it to one of us to take care of the Freedom Fighters-,"

"-and take our rightful place as the soul occupants of our counterpart's lives."

"No more doubles."

"No more problems."

The two boys were now eye to eye. Neither of them blinking. Both of them were bristling.

I'm sure if I wanted to, I could've probably cut the tension that radiated from the both of them.

"So, I really am a fighting machine for you." I said, slowly realizing what Finitevus had said earlier.

"Wow, it took you this long to figure out?" Fiona asked from her perch on her wooden chair. I glared at her. She smirked. I stuck my tongue out. She made an obscene gesture.

"Why you-," I started as I began to walk over to her. Finitevus put his arm out, holding me back. I looked up at him, and he glanced down at me, raising his eyebrows in a 'What do you think you're doing?' type of look.

"The maturity level of all of you astounds me." He said in a droll, announcing his comment to the entirety of the room.

I looked sheepishly at the floor. I figured I was the only one who really took on the weight his comment intended to give. Fiona began to play with her hair, but then quickly stopped to wrap her arms around Scourge, who had gone back over to sit with her. Miles leaned back calmly against the table. Patches and Boomer went back to polish their saber and machines respectively.

I finally broke the awkward silence.

"So, I have a week to go show this Mogul guy what I can do?" I asked.

Finitevus nodded.

"At the rate you're going, however, you could probably be ready to see him tomorrow. The fact that you can use the Chaos powers effectively is more than what I had expected at this point in time."

"But remember zat we didn't know what to expect," Added Patches, who had been quiet the entire time.

"But, after what I saw tonight, I 'ave no doubt in my mind zat eet eez definitely more than what was expected." At this, Patches put his hand lightly to his head and looked down at the ground in silent fear of what he had experienced.

"Well, I suppose I'll just have to do as much as I can by next week then huh?" I asked everyone in general.

Scourge smiled.

"Got that right kid." He answered.

"So what exactly do I have to do?"

I looked expectantly at the Dr. He was staring down at the same tablet I saw when he 'initiated' me with the Chaos Emerald.

"Finitevus?" I asked him when he didn't answer. He looked up and then down at me.

"Hmm… I suppose at the very least you should try to sing considering it's something that you need to be able to do. Not to mention continue to train yourself for battle."

"Okay, I'm good with that, but please, please, please, PLEASE! Don't make me go back into the woods again!" I asked him, hugging him around his waist.

I could feel him go absolutely rigid under my touch, and I heard a gasp from somewhere behind me.

I then felt his hands grab me around my armpits and slowly pry me off him. Once he succeeded in doing that he extended his arms to maximum length and dropped me.

"Never touch me again if you wish to live. Understand?" He threatened, his eyes now gleaming like a demon's in the light of the lab as he seemed to loom miles above me.

I nodded my head vigorously in fear.

"Uh, I believe eet eez getting late for ze leetle girl. Why don't we pick up in the morning? Does zat sound good?" Patches asked, coming to my rescue.

Finitevus' eyes simmered down and he nodded in response to Patches.

"Fine. But just know, Charolette, that you will do whatever we tell you to do to complete your training." He said as he walked dramatically out of the lab, black cape cloaking his exit under its cover.

That's when Scourge burst out laughing. I looked right at him to see that he had pushed Fiona off him so he could laugh even harder. His eyes were stained with tears, and his teeth showed just how pointed they were. He started to pound his kneecap with his fist and he laughed even more.

"That face was priceless! Oh man, I would kill to see that face again!" He howled.

At that, I also began to chuckle. Simply because laughs were contagious like that. Pretty soon I was holding my stomach as well, which then got Boomer to also add some deep ones of his own.

"Excuse me, but I do believe Finitevus said she should get some sleep." Interrupted Miles as he crossed his arms. I slowly stopped laughing.

"Come off it Miles, we're just having a few laughs." Countered Fiona, as she too wiped some tears from her eyes.

"Well, it seems to me that you've had more than enough." He said turning towards me. "Would you like me to escort you back to your room?"

He held out his hand to me.

I looked at the hand for a moment and then put my own hand in it. He slowly gripped his large fingers around my own smaller ones. I heard Scourge grunt and saw him lean back in his chair as Miles walked me out of the lab.

"I expect to see you in zee main hallway before noon time tomorrow!" Called Patches.

"Got it!" I hollered back to him. That's when things got deathly quiet once more.

Miles guided me back to my room, slowly, never once letting go of my hand.

Once we were there he opened the door for me and guided me in.

"I hope that tonight's meeting didn't bother you too much, Charolette." He said, finally letting go of my hand. I walked over to my dresser and picked out some pajamas.

"It didn't… I guess I'm just glad that I know what's going on now. Ya know?" I replied, pulling out a pair of black leggings and a lime yellow T-shirt.

"Yes, I do…. You're definitely lucky, Charolette, no one else lived long enough to find out what they were supposed to do." I heard footsteps approach from behind me.

I turned to see him close to me. He then wrapped his arms around me and cradled my head in his hands.

I felt the warmth of his body and the intense beating of his heart

"Uh, Miles?" I asked softly.

"What is it?" He asked.

I stopped for a moment to think about the whole thing. This is what Scourge had been talking about. Miles having these feelings for me. At least, I was assuming that was how he would show them. Holding me and stuff. Against my better judgment I hugged him back, dropping my clothes to the floor.

_This is really stupid… Especially if what Scourge said was true…_

"Nothing." I answered.

He squeezed me tight and then released me. I looked up into his warm, ice blue eyes. He smiled down at me, his little canines showing.

"I'll wake you up tomorrow morning, how does that sound?" He asked. I nodded.

"That would be nice." I answered, and turned away towards the window. "Though, it already looks like it's the morning already.

Miles walked over to the window and looked out.

"Indeed it is…" He confirmed. He then turned towards me and I noticed how the buttons on his uniform gleamed. He then walked back over towards me, kneeled to the ground, and picked up my clothes from the ground.

"Thank you." I said, taking them from his hand. He smiled and stood up.

"I'll wake you later then. Goodnight." He said, walking out of the room and shutting the door.

I stood in disbelief of the events that just occurred.

"Did I just… flirt? With Miles?" I asked myself. I then nodded. More than likely that would've been considered flirting to some person somewhere in any of the different worlds that existed.

I sighed and changed into my pajamas. Man, were they comfy.

I then turned off the light, climbing into the large bed all by myself by the light of the moon that came in through my window. I was still fairly cold from the training I did earlier with Patches, so I quickly covered myself with the large comforters, feeling the warmth of my body immediately absorb into the materiel just to turn around and give warmth to me.

Needless to say, I slept quite soundly that night.

Hey all! Uh, I suppose since I have some readers now, I'll put some authors notes into this. So, I hope this chapter cleared up some 't'issues with the story line, at least a little bit. (Though I'm sure it probably doesn't…) If you feel anything does need to be cleared up please let me know and I will fix it promptly.

Also, if you don't mind going on a little quest for me, I'd appreciate it greatly if you would tell some people about this. And if you could also tell them to review and criticize. (destructive is welcomed.)

But yeah, thanks all.

-Dojang


	7. Chapter 7: The Production

Chapter 7: The Production

"Hey! Hey Charolette wake up!" Whisper/screamed a voice in my ear. I grudgingly opened my eyes to see a pair of blue ones staring back at me from a creepishly close distance. So, like most normal people might do -using the term 'normal' very loosely- I screamed. I screamed and tucked my head under the covers briefly noticing a flash of yellow as my eyes shut tight.

"Man, Charolette! Don't do that!"

I then recognized the voice to be Scourge's. I looked out from under the covers to see Scourge just in front of the door holding his ears, his face in a contorted grimace.

"Crap!" I said, throwing back the covers and hopping off to the floor. "Scourge I'm so sorry. I promise I didn't mean to use the Chaos, I swear it!"

"Rgghhh… It's fine." He moaned. "Oww…." He shook his head and stood up to his full height, though, his ears sunk low. I hugged him and patted his shoulder.

"Are you sure you're gonna be alright?"

He nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I should be fine. It's Mogul we're going to have to worry about isn't it? He isn't used to you at all." He smiled halfheartedly.

"That's true…." I agreed. "I just hope I impress him enough."

"I'm sure you will," Scourge reassured me as he placed his arm on my shoulder. "Heck, you even impressed the Doc. Not an easy feat."

"Thanks, Scourge." I said, wrapping my arms around his waist. Mainly because that was the only part of his body I could easily hug seeing as his shoulders were where my head was at. He slowly hugged me back. "Sorry about your ears again…" I apologized.

"It's fine Charolette. I'll recuperate in time for tonight."

"Alright…." I said, walking over to my dresser. "Hey, who else is going besides you, me and the Dr.?" I asked, pulling out some jeans and a long sleeved purple shirt.

"Uh, I think Patches is, and then Miles is buying a ticket. Boomer doesn't do this type of stuff, and I'm not too sure about Fiona. She usually doesn't miss a chance to go to a party or anything."

"Alright, just so long as you and Miles don't try to kill each other like you did a few days ago. Nearly took out the main hall…" I said.

"Hey, fuzzball started it. Messing with my coat and all, ya know?" He said. I heard him then jump onto my unmade bed.

"Please get your dirty shoes off my comforter." I asked him, clothes in hand.

"Eh, get dressed Charolette. We still have some stuff to do before we leave." He said, kicking off his shoes one by one. The first landed against the far wall by the window. The second bounced off the dresser's door and hit the back of my calf.

"Oww." I complained playfully.

"Cry me a river, kid. Now go get dressed."

"I can't do that when you're in here Scourge. " I said.

"Course you can. It won't bother me any."

"Well it will me." I muttered under my breath as I walked to the other side of the dresser facing the wall, making sure the door was covering my left side with the wall to my right.

Slowly, I began to change.

"Are you that scared that I'll peak?" I heard Scourge asked from his perch. "It's not like I haven't seen anything like that before."

I blushed.

"Well, I'm not used to having other people watch me change on a regular basis. And somehow you seem to have this uncanny ability to sense when I'm going to change my clothes….Why is that, Scourge?"

"Eh,… that just means that you should be used to me by now."

I placed my hand on the door to the dresser and peaked my head around to face him.

"No, it means that I should be worried that you're trying to do something."

_Like ticking off Miles for one thing…_

"What, you don't trust me?."

"Considering you kind of lied to me about who you were? Not as completely as you might like." I retaliated, finishing putting on my shirt.

I then walked forwards and closed the door as I retrieved his shoes from the far side of the room.

"I believe these are yours?" I asked as I handed them out to him. He looked over at me and grabbed the shoes, but pulled them so I fell over onto the bed. He then rolled over so he was looking at me right in the eyes.

"You know I wouldn't try to do anything to ya." He said softly as he caressed my face with his free hand.

I pulled away and stood up sharply.

"Yes, you would." I replied. He sighed and began to pull his shoes back onto his feet. "Remember when you grabbed me around my waist after you nearly pushed my off the cliff? And the first time we trained in the woods, don't think I forgot about that."

"So I like to get you scared before I cuddle up to ya. What's so wrong about that?" He asked.

"The fact that you enjoy it." I said walking out the door. My bed could wait to be made until I got back later.

By now I thoroughly knew my way around the castle and didn't make any detours on my way to the lab, which had become my second room while I was here. That is, if I wasn't outside practicing my fighting or dangling off a cliff…

I heard Scourge's faithful footsteps behind me. And even though he didn't say anything, it was still nice to have him nearby. I know I seemed a bit harsh on him, but he was plenty used to it, and some part of me thinks that he likes it when I try to stand up to him. That sick, twisted, sadistic side…

I shuddered at the thought, and went straight back to my determined path. The Dr. was waiting.

That's right. That was the day I was to meet Mogul, the beneficiary of the experiment. At the very least, I thought, I'd be able to see more of the world that I was currently staying in.

_Maybe even find someone else who can get me out of here. _

When I pushed through the door to the lab I tapped Boomer on the shoulder and gave him a hug.

"How ya doing Boom?" I asked, quickly walking over to a piece of machinery in the corner.

"Morning, Charolette. Doing okay, and I wouldn't touch that if I were you." He added. I slowly put down a little bobble that I was fondling.

"Why? Does it explode or something?"

"No, it actually makes you seem like your drunk if it's opened."

"Oh." I said, setting it back down slowly on the table. "That wouldn't be good."

"No, it wouldn't."

"I think it would be pretty funny. When'd you make it?" Scourge asked as he walked over and picked up the object I had JUST sat down.

"A few weeks ago actually," Boomer answered as he walked over and grabbed it out of his hands. "And when I tested it out Patches and Fiona ended up spending an entire afternoon trying to play ring around the rosy with the Doctor. Trust me, it wasn't fun."

"Actually, that sounds mildly amusing." I agreed.

Boomer sighed.

"I wouldn't suggest trying it today though, especially when you need to meet Mogul. Trust me, you'll want to be completely coherent."

"Yeah, he's right… Aww man. Then at least save it for us, huh Boomer?" Scourge said tossing it to the purple walrus. He almost missed it, and caught it about five inches from the ground.

"Darn it, Scourge! Don't do stupid stuff like that!" He yelled, cradling the little bobble.

"Sorry, I thought you had it." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Obviously not."

I sighed and shook my head.

"Hey, do you know where Finitevus is? He said he wanted to talk to me before we left." I asked. "I mean, I know we still have a while but I sti-,"

"I'm right here." Interrupted his imposing voice as the Doctor walked in. His eyes had large circles underneath them and he seemed more grumpy and gloomy than normal.

"Uh, what did you need to see me about?" I asked hesitantly.

"Oh, yes." He said. He then pulled out a large box from behind him and placed this on the table. "This is for you first of all."

I raised my eyebrows at it and pulled it towards me. The box was absolutely HUGE! A really pretty light lavender with a large yellow stick on note on top. My name was on it.

"Who's it from?" I asked as I pulled off the lid.

"Mogul." Finitevus answered. "He thought you might like to wear it tonight."

_You already opened it?_ I thought as I took out the tissue paper. My eyes then widened in utter awe of what laid on the table in front of me. An absolutely beautiful blue dress covered in sequins making swirls over the seemingly ever changing single color of the material. Light blue ruffles showed faintly underneath, giving the skirt some extra poof. I slowly pulled it out of the box, careful not to snag it on anything.

"It's gorgeous." I said, holding it up to myself and twirling around the lab. "And you said Mogul sent it? How did he know my size and stuff?"

"The material in this world is more adjustable than the material in yours….. Could you please stop doing that? You're going to break something." He growled.

I stopped twirling, but continued to hold the dress up to me.

"Sorry. It's just so much prettier than anything I've seen in my world." I said solemnly putting the dress down. Finitevus was giving me the look I hated receiving from him. The look that suggested I was nothing more than mere child. It seemed so inappropriate to me seeing as how I was traveling between different worlds and stuff. But, I suppose the least I could do was to act like a proper representation of the people on Earth.

"Eh, you'll be twirling around later at the club." Scourge reassured me, patting my back. I looked again longingly at the dress and sighed. As Scourge said, later.

"So, is there anything that we need to go over before this evening?" I asked.

"Just this. Don't take anything to drink except water. Anything else you find in any other world will be too much for your body system to handle. The food is fine because the nutritional values are the same anywhere. Not to mention that liquids can be more easily tampered with, and we don't need you being tampered with. Understood?"

"Yeah, there are a bunch of creepy guys around that place." Boomer added from across the room. "Scourge included."

"Gee thanks." The green hedgehog replied.

"I don't think I'd want to take anything but water anyways. " I replied. "But, couldn't that be 'tampered' with too?"

"The air could be tampered with, Charolette. The point is that water is the simplest form of substance available. Now, if you're done asking stupid questions?" Finitevus snapped.

"Yeah," I said picking up my dress box. "I'm going to go practice. If you'll excuse me."

Finitevus waved for me to leave.

"Be ready to go by promptly six o'clock."

"Yessir. See ya later Boomer." I said walking out. He waved a hand at me as well.

As I walked out the door I heard Finitevus begin to talk again.

I opened the box once more to look at it and smiled. Gosh was it pretty.

I then ran towards the front hall where I could get to my practice room. They set it up for me when I got here, just in case I made it. Luckily for them, I could utilize their handiwork.

The front hall echoed with my footsteps as I walked over to the left side. Once there, I set my box on the ground and opened the hidden door in the wall.

The small room I entered was covered with carpets and other sound reducing materials so I could sing as loud as I needed without completely killing their ears. Lord KNOWS that helped a lot in the last week.

I walked over to the stereo sitting in the corner and popped in a couple karaoke CDs into the six disk turn table. Even though I wasn't allowed to go back to my world, Scourge was, so I had him get some CDs for me. I still haven't been able to visit, and he won't tell me how my family is doing at all.

"I'll save that for another day I suppose." I told myself as I pressed on the power button. I heard the system buzz and the first track began to play.

Can you feel the love tonight.

Concrete Angel.

Don't stop believing.

Forever and for always.

Hound Dog.

Open your eyes to love.

So many songs. Over and over.

Eventually, I stopped and walked out to get some water since my throat was about as dry as the Gobi desert. And as soon as I opened the door I ran into a big, red wall.

"Ow." I said, running into said wall.

"Nice to see you." The wall said back to me.

I looked up to see Miles' face staring back down at me. I blushed and took a step back.

"Sorry about that. I should've been looking where I was going." I said.

"No problem, I was just coming to see how you were doing."

"Oh, I'm doing fine… Just practicing some songs for tonight." I answered.

"And how's that going?" He asked, walking past me back into the practice room. So much for my water break.

I followed him back in and closed the door. His ears perked up at the sound, but he didn't say anything.

"So, what do you think you'll sing for him?" Miles asked.

"I don't really know. I just wanted to practice..." I answered, sitting on one of the fold up chairs in the corner.

He sighed and walked over.

"Well, I guess whatever you choose will be nice. Your voice is beautiful… And I was also supposed to tell you that it is about five o'clock, so you should probably go get dressed." He added with a small smirk on his muzzle as he leaned in close.

"I've been singing for that long? Shoot! Thanks Miles!" I said, quickly bypassing, but acknowledging, the closeness in which his face had been to mine, as I stood up and ran out the door, pausing only to open said door and pick up my dress.

I ran through the hallways up to my room, and despite the week of hard training I had, I was out of breath by the time I reached my room. The bulky box was definitely part of the problem.

As I opened the door, I saw something moved from the corner of my eye. I quickly turned and looked down the hallway. Nothing. Only the red carpet on the floor, the brass candelabras on the wall, and the occasional cobweb waving lazily in the corner. I looked the other way and saw the same thing.

"Okay… That was weird…" I said to myself as I opened the door. My bed was still a mess, but I didn't expect anyone here to make it for me. Unlike my mother, these guys had lives to live, and I don't think they'd spend it making up my bed for me.

I set the dress on the bed and walked over to the window to close the curtains. The sun was low in the sky. Which I suppose would be alright, considering the nights were getting a tad shorter all the time. I undressed and then slipped effortlessly into the dress.

"I don't think this guy is as bad as they say he is" I said to myself. The dress fit perfectly, and I thought it matched my hair rather well. I felt the sequins on the dress rub underneath my arms. "Yeah, that's the only downside I suppose." I added as an after thought. "Ah well, time to do all the other stuff."

On my dresser, there was some makeup and hair stuffs that I had some how gotten Fiona to give me a couple days ago.

After messing with it for a while, I decided to let sleeping dogs lie and let my hair just fall down randomly, since there was no appeasing it without a shower or anything. And, due to my lack of time management, I didn't have enough to try to make myself look as nice as I would've liked.

I did slip on some little white flats that were hidden well underneath the big skirt, and after I thought I looked halfway decent, I walked out of my room and down the stairs towards the lab, as that's where I thought everyone would be.

I met Boomer in the main hall as he was trudging towards the doors with a large sack on his back.

"Uh, do you need some help?" I asked. He looked at me out of the corner of his eyes.

"No, I'm alright Charolette. Just gotta do some chores." He answered. "You look nice by the way. Good luck tonight."

"Thanks." I replied as he continued to walk away. From the bag, though, I thought I smelled something that smelled faintly reminiscent of raw meat.

_Okay…._ I thought to myself as I continued to walk down.

Once there, I saw Patches, Miles, Scourge and of course, the Doctor all waiting for me. The first three were at least dressed up somewhat, while the Doctor was still wearing his traditional garb of creepiness.

But, buttons were polished, pins applied and straightened, and they looked nice. Scourge's traditional leather jacket traded in for something a tad more classy… a simplistic tux jacket.

Single handedly, I thought that this sight alone could rival the proms that my school held. And the best part of it all was that I didn't have a date.

"Hello." I said, as I walked in. The dress snagged briefly on the doorframe, and I had to tug at the hem so it would get through alright. I then walked in towards them. Finitevus flashed a glance at me.

"Are you prepared?" He asked.

I nodded.

"I think so."

"You can't think. You don't have time to think around him. You have to know." Finitevus answered.

"Then, yes, I am." I replied.

He nodded.

"Fire up the star rods." Finitevus said. Miles nodded and walked over to a corner of the lab that contained a couple large poles with a star glass orb on the top. He pressed a couple buttons and a bolt of energy coursed through them. Slowly, a yellow portal began to open and the eerie glow shown throughout the room. I looked over at Scourge and the others. Their fur was glowing with the same color, and made their already sinister looking features even more… sinister.

"It's time." Finitevus said, holding his had out to me. I took it and he walked in first. As I stepped in, I felt the cool energy wash over me, almost like the Chaos energy did when I first absorbed it. As stepped in, everything went light.

_A/N: To __Adamanthys__; first off, I appreciate you challenging me. I truly do. And hopefully I will be able to answer your question for you. Okay, I'll start where it makes most sense, at the beginning. So, there, obviously, Charolette and Scourge are basic human sized (seeing as they're both humanoid in form at that time) Finitevus enters and he is smaller than Charolette. Why did I make it like that? I honestly don't know why. If anything my only logical reason is to say that Sonic X (*raspberries over shoulder*) is my reason. When I was watching it (*gouges out eyeballs*) I figured that the animals are smaller than the humans. I then went, wait, I don't want them to be midgets! I want them taller than midgets! So, I made them slightly shorter than the average human._

_Then,(to even things out) I make Charolette shorter in their world in essence to really even things out. (I know I said that twice…heh heh). Also, I wanted her to seem a bit more vulnerable in their world, so I made her shorter is size. Again, bigger than a midget. _

_I hope this answers your question without me coming across like a big 'ol jerk._

_Please continue to challenge me. I want you to. So thank you._

_To everyone else, I do have a file for this on DA, as well as some pictures. (More will be added shortly, and if you have any suggestions on what to draw, let me know, cause sometimes I need a little push.)_

_The new chapter is already underway. HERE COMES MOGUUUUUUL! *elephant in question comes out of comic book and whacks me across head with cane, and then disappears.*_

_-Dojang_


	8. Chapter 8: The Art

Chapter 8- The Art

As I stepped out of the portal, I was greeted with a temperature much warmer than that of the lab. And much brighter too. I blinked as I took in my surroundings. All around me was people talking and laughing with general happiness and jolliness. Women were in dresses much more risqué than mine, so I was thankful I was at least a tad more nicely dressed. The men there were in tuxedos much in the style of Scourge's. The floor was lined with plush red carpet, and there were marble columns all around with gorgeous lights and greenery to accent everything.

"It's so pretty!" I breathed, letting go of Finitevus' hand. There were people giving us some strange looks. I returned some of the stares, as some of the people looking at us had hair the color of fresh cut grass with little plastic fishes intertwined. At least, the one that most caught my attention did.

"Scared yet?" I heard Scourge say into my ear. I jumped away and looked back at him.

"No… Not yet." I answered. Miles and Patches stepped through and the portal closed, leaving a plain wall in its stead.

"Just wait." He said, while winking to a couple of women wearing low cut dresses. I shoved his shoulder. He pushed me back a couple of feet in return.

"You're so rude sometimes, ya know? And your lack of positive thinking is depressing." I said curtly, as he stuck his tongue out at me. I lifted up the end of my skirt and prepared to kick his shin.

"Behave you two."

The both of us stopped, as Scourge was getting ready to make a comeback, Finitevus walked over to us and pointed to a couple of servers and general butlers making their way to us. I stopped and looked at the little contraptions, for that's exactly what they were. The one that most caught my attention was a robotic monkey with a lightbulb type object on the top of his head.

"Zey are just robots, Charolette. Workers for zee Casino. Just act normally." Patches said to me, his medals clanking together as he leaned in.

"Sure, whatever you say Patches." I nodded in response and took a quick glance over at the other three. They seemed perfectly fine with what was occurring.

One more thing to get used to. Automated butlers. Great. As if magic gems, talking animals and portals weren't enough already….

The Monkey and his two accompaniments stopped in front of us and looked us over.

"May I help you?" Asked the monkey skeptically. I could tell he didn't want to be bothered too much by the people that came through the wall.

"I'm Dr. Finitevus. We have an appointment with Mogul." The doctor spoke. The monkey's eyes widened and then trained straight onto me. Never having had a monkey look at me as intently as this one, I stared in return.

"I see. Please, this way." He said with a bow as he turned, quickly averting his eyes and walking deeper into the Casino.

We followed him when one of the other servers stopped Miles. He still had to pay for a ticket.

As we walked into the main part, I saw slot machines, roulette tables, poker tables, bars, dining areas… you think of it, and it was probably there blinking like a Christmas tree on crack. Though… these lights were coordinated at the very least. Butlers were flitting throughout all of this, serving drinks, handling money and such. There were also animals, much like Scourge and Patches and all them, but there were also humans. Some were dressed very strangely, while others looked like something from a normal prom back on Earth. And what seemed to be the vast majority of them were looking at us as we passed.

I then felt an arm slip through mine. I looked and saw Miles to my right.

"Just until we reach Mogul." He said. From the corner of my eye I saw Patches had his hand on his saber.

"Why didn't they take that at the door?" I asked him. He followed my gaze and then looked back at me.

"Because it's mainly for show. Of course, it can be turned lethal in a brief moment as you know." He answered with a sly grin.

"Of course." I said, wrapping my left hand over his forearm.

Up ahead, Scourge and the Doctor were following the Monkey butler. Behind us, I knew Patches was following.

'_At least I'm safe…'_ I thought to myself. '_But, why the need for all the protection? There are regular civilians in here which means that it should be a fairly safe facility. Yet, if they let Patches keep his saber…'_

My thoughts were interrupted, however, by a large booming laugh from up ahead. I looked and saw what appeared to be a big white mountain leaning over a pool table. The people around it were all laughing when the Monkey walked up to the mountain and pulled its coattail. The area the mountain was in was dark, so I couldn't see anything definite, but I could see it bend down to the Monkey as it spoke something into its ear.

It slowly stood up and waved his hands to the people at the pool table.

"Mr. Mammoth Mogul." Said the Monkey, as the figure walked towards us and into the light. My jaw dropped, though Miles quickly tucked it back up with a brush of his finger. If the boys were a foot or two taller than me, this guy was easily six. Wearing a lavish white tux, the elephant-or mammoth I suppose- seemed to own the place. Then again, he did, so I suppose that he would have every single right to act as such. I also noticed him holding in one hand, a very elegant walking cane. Mildly odd for an elephant, or mammoth, or…. Let's just go with pachyderm to make it easier. Then again, nothing about this place was normal, so I guess it went along with the territory.

Luckily, Finitevus and Scourge were in front of me, so Mr. Mogul didn't spot me right away. I felt Patches' presence to my left as the great creature walked up to us.

"Welcome, Dr." He said, his voice deep and booming. "I trust you all made it here safely?"

Finitevus grimaced and nodded as he shook his hand in greeting. "And the girl?"

I saw Finitevus sweep his arms back as he relished in his moment of pride. He, Scourge, and Patches backed away, and left me to face Mr. Mogul directly. He took a step forward and looked down at me. I slowly took my arm from Miles.

"So you're Charolette…" He said to himself. And despite the fact that he did indeed say it to himself amongst the roar of people in the background, I still heard what he had said. I looked up at him and saw large blue eyes staring back down at me. He reached out one hand, his other resting on his cane. I lightly rested my hand on top of his and he touched it lightly with the end of his trunk. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You too. And, thanks so much for the dress." I added, taking my hand away.

"You're welcome." I saw him smile, his eyes twinkling with some sort of twisted sense of humor that was intensified with the lights. He then looked back at the boys. "Why don't we talk over dinner? I trust none of you have eaten?"

Scourge shook his head.

"Neah. The doc likes to starve us all. Don't ya?" He asked, with a sly grin to him. Finitevus grimaced, and his canines showed.

"That is immaterial." He answered, the neon lights bouncing off his white fur.

That's when my stomach growled. Shoot. I hadn't eaten anything at all.

I bit down on my lower lip and looked around. With their keen hearing I was sure that they all… had definitely heard it. I saw Miles looking at me with a concerned look, Patches and Scourge both with one of 'oh shoot', Mogul with one of curiosity, and Finitevus with one of disgust.

"Have you eaten Charolette?" Mogul asked, in his deep voice. I looked over at Finitevus who was giving me the death glare, and then back to Mogul.

"Well, not today no. I've been singing, practicing for tonight. I haven't had time." I replied. I could almost hear Finitevus mentally perform a face-palm.

"Well, in that case…" He pointed to the Monkey. "Have some food prepared immediately."

The Monkey bowed and walked away. "Please, follow me," He said to us, walking the opposite way the Monkey went. I risked another glance over at Finitevus who rolled his eyes, and with a swish of his cape, followed the mammoth. Mr. Happy.

Miles took my arm up once more and we walked again through the crowd.

"Why didn't you eat anything? You know you should with all the training you've been doing." He said in a hushed tone. I leaned closer to him, as my hearing wasn't as good as his in this loud area.

"I just didn't have time." I replied. "This seemed a bit more important than eating anyway."

"Be that as it may, if you don't eat then you'll get sick, and if you get sick you won't be able to train. Not to mention that that Chaos power still takes up some energy if I recall your complaints from earlier this week."

"That's just a slight issue." I answered.

"No, it isn't. And I'd appreciate it if you'd take better care of yourself."

"Oh, I'm fine Miles. Anyway, you all are busy. Just like I am."

"You can still take care of yourself, you do know this, yes?"

"I know. I know. But I just want to go home. If I get sick, it's just a technicality."

I felt Mile's arm twitch slightly.

"Just, take care of yourself."

"Fine, 'mommy'." I retorted playfully.

"Right this way." Said the Monkey. I looked ahead and saw that he was holding open a great door in which the other three hand already entered. Miles and I walked through to see a large oak table with large, tall back, cushioned seats around it. Miles pulled out a chair for me and I sat down, quite thankful when he pushed me in as well. It wasn't until then I noticed Scourge sitting to my immediate left. He smiled at me as Miles walked around to sit at Finitevus' side. Patches sat across from Mogul at the other end of the table.

"So," started Mogul to my immediate right. He must've put his cane against the table to rest, for his hands were now folded in front of him and he leaned forward expectantly. "Tell me what you've learned."

I glanced over at Finitevus who was sitting just across the table from me. He pushed his glasses up with his forefinger and sighed.

"Well, we honestly don't know what we've learned. Just that Charolette has shown incredible capability to harness the Chaos energy in the body. In the past week she's been able to use the energy when she screams mainly, which, in the heat of battle might not be a bad thing. Save the fact that if one of us were to use it we might not necessarily be screaming. "

"In other words, you mean Scourge yes?" Mogul asked.

"Precisely. He'd more than likely be yelling out orders than like a banshee."

"I think he gets it, I yell a lot." I interjected with a sharp look to Finitevus. He gave me a sharp look back.

"But, if she yelled words, wouldn't it simply work the same way? Have you tried that?"

"We've tried doing that, but when she screams the words they just really make things… a mess for lack of a better term." Finitevus said.

"Yeah, like of my ear drums." Scourge said, wiggling his pinky finger in one of his large green ears. I looked over at him.

"You said that you were okay…" I said, quite hurt. He shrugged and then picked up the glass of water in front of him and lazily swirled it around.

"Well, she's a singer, so why not have her sing words? That seemed detrimental to have when you were looking for a subject."

"We have been making her sing," Started Finitevus.

"But all I'm doing is singing." I finished. "There's no energy like when I scream, but I can't control what happens when I do indeed use the power."

"We just need to find zat 'appy medium," Patches plainly put it. "In between zee screaming and zee seenging."

"How, is the only problem." Finitevus added. "If we were to make it so every time she sang she could use the Chaos energy it would not only be beneficial to our ears, but make it easier for us to use it. I just don't know that Scourge would want to be singing every time he had to use it."

"Then what if we at least try to make her sing and be able to use it? From there, some minor adjustments and she should be able to talk and control the energy just as we do when the crystal is outside our bodies." Mogul said.

He then motioned quickly and from out of no where massive plates of food appeared. At least, for me they were massive anyway. The slice of turkey in front of me was about at least as big as my forearm. Which, compared to Mogul was a regular sized portion. But, the potatoes, and the peas and the little cup of sliced fruit all looked and smelled wonderful. Rich and delicious. I picked up a fork and stabbed a little bit of plum from the fruit bowl. I brought it up to my mouth and took a bite.

"Oh my lord, it's delicious." I said, slowly chewing and savoring every morsel of the little fruit. After it was gone my mouth salivated and I ate another piece. And another. I was completely absorbed in eating every single delectable morsel of the content of the cup when I heard Mogul chuckle. I looked up and saw him staring

"Then eat, I'm glad you like it," He said to me. "But what do you think of that Finitevus? Would that be doable?"

The doctor sighed and rubbed his temple.

"I suppose it could be. Though, I honestly have no idea how to go about doing it is the only problem."

"Then why not just have her sing while we fight or something? That usually gets a reaction out of her." Scourge suggested, biting into a large piece of meat from a knife.

"Oui, and zen we can try to make 'er jump off a cleef." Patches said with mild contempt from across the table. I noticed Mogul's eyes slightly widen as he glanced over at me. I nodded and shrugged.

"On that account I definitely agree with Patches. We shouldn't be putting her in any sort of unnecessary danger, Scourge." Miles said. "And don't forget that she was brought here in your care."

"Excuse me for trying to teach her the finer points of an adrenaline rush." Scourge said glaring at the fox across the table form him.

"Adrenaline rush, so that's what you call it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Only that you-,"

"Shut up, you two!" I shouted. Immediately the room was silenced. The glass on the table vibrated and the silverware shuddered. Scourge's face was contorted into a nasty face for the second time that day, and Miles' ears were on the fritz. Amazing how a couple short sentences could set those two to the edge.

"Fascinating…. Hmm…. Who's listened to her?" Mogul questioned as I slowly took up another piece of fruit, a pineapple, to my mouth. He didn't appear at all fazed by my sudden little outburst.

"The only time any of us has heard her is when she's outside and screaming during her training. Usually much louder and painful. Good to have in a pinch, but not what we're going for. Besides that we've only had her sing in an enclosed area and have been listening to her on recordings." At this, he made a face and bit down hard on his lower lip.

"I want to listen to her, but I'm not sure of the repercussions it might have on anyone else."

"Awww, Doc, I'm touched." Scourge said sarcastically. Finitevus growled.

"Scourge, the only reason this whole experiment is going on is so that you can become King again, so don't act stupid. Finitevus is right, though." Miles said. "If we want this to succeed then we need all of us to be both mentally and physically ready."

"Then how will we know if it has any effect or not? And, who could I sing for? I mean, I don't want to hurt anyone…." I said, setting my now empty fruit glass on the table.

"No one very easily. Considering we don't know what your voice is capable of when put to a test." Finitevus responded. "That factor alone could make you dangerous to anyone who would hear it."

"Quite the humanitarian you've turned out to be… Then it seems like all you need is a controlled experiment." Mogul mused. I looked over to him. His large white-suited figure was leaning casually against the back of his chair. "What would you say to use my night club's stage? The patrons here are expendable for the most part, and you wouldn't be wasting any of your pawns, Finitevus. A bonus if you could look at it that way."

"But the people in your club! They're just civilians!"

"Precisely, Charolette. That's what they are. Just civilians." Mogul answered, his the look in his eyes sending a chill up my spine.

I swallowed.

"Well, I uh…. I suppose…." I stuttered, looking around the table at my escorts. Scourge simply raised his eyebrows, Patches' eyes were closed, Finitevus was staring back at me, and Miles… well, Miles was looking down at his plate of food in deep thought.

'Great, just great. Obviously Finitevus doesn't want me to do this, he doesn't want this guy's help in the first place, let alone his suggestions… Scourge could care less one way or another, he just wants his power based on the information I can give him because of this entire experiment. Patches hasn't said a word which means he's probably against it, and Miles is just…. Miles… As for Mogul he also wants the information this experiment can give. Goodness, why won't they just let me go home?'

"I suppose I could give it a shot." I answered slowly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Finitevus shake his head in disapproval.

"Wonderful. Then please, finish your meal and we'll begin immediately."

"No!" Finitevus shouted, slamming his hands on the table, quickly standing up and sending the chair he was sitting in flying backwards.

"What seems to be the matter, Doctor?" Mogul calmly asked to the seething echidna. All of us were starting at him. His fur was standing on end, and his eyes were trained to the untouched food on the plate in front of him. It took him a good twenty seconds of deep breathing before he finally answered.

"I don't want anyone to know about her. What if Eggman were to find out and meddle his way in? Then nothing would ever get done!"

"Eggman is a useless dimwit who doesn't know a Chaos Emerald from an Anarchy Beryl, you know this. And besides you and me, I don't know anyone else who would want to use this information to benefit their cause. Your worries are null and void Doctor." Mogul answered.

"Yeah, don't worry Doc. If anything happens, I'll protect her." Scourge said, glancing over at me with the sort of smile he only gives Fiona.

"That's not what I'm afraid of."

"All your other worries are null and void, as I've told you Doctor. Besides, I don't allow Eggman and his thugs to enter here. Bad for business, really."

"Feenitevus, I do believe eet would be fine for Meez Charolette to get sing. What weell zee harm be in trying?" Patches said slowly, softly.

"Something I'm not sure I want to find out." He answered, looking up at me.

"I'll be fine Finitevus. Who even knows if anything will happen anyway?" I said.

"Wonderful." Said Mogul as he stood up from his seat, picking up his cane along the way. He snapped at the Monkey butler who had been standing silently in the corner for the whole time.

"Tell the D.J. to prepare for Charolette to sing."

"Yes, Mr. Mogul." He said, bowing out of the door.

"Hey, your big début." Scourge said as he stood up from his seat. As I prepared to push myself out I felt the chair move with a swiftness from a strength that was not usually my own. Scourge's hand grabbed my own and pulled me out of the seat and into a dip. My head was about halfway to the ground and his was only inches from mine. "You ready?" He looked down at me with his blue eyes. His smiling blue eyes.

I nodded slowly.

Quick footsteps on the carpeted floor slightly alerted me. It wasn't until I felt Miles grab my free hand and pull me up and away from Scourge that I knew what they alerted me to.  
"I'll escort you there, Charolette." He said curtly, with a sharp glance at Scourge.

"It's in the main dance floor Miles." Mogul chuckled.

"And come back here when you get her there."

"Yes, Finitevus." Miles answered as we walked out.

"Why do you need to go back?" I asked worriedly as we walked out amongst the other patrons.

"So I can help observe what happens when you sing. You don't want anything to happen to us do you?" Miles questioned.

"No, of course not." I answered. "I just..."

"It's fine."

We walked the rest of the way in silence, and it wasn't until I got to the steps of the stage that I realized a minor part to the role I was about to play as 'singer'.

"Oh, no! What am I going to sing?" I gasped, putting my hands over my mouth.

"Whatever the D.J. plays, alright?" Miles said putting his hands over my own, and pulling them down. "You'll do fine, Charolette. Trust me."

At that, he walked away into the crowd.

"Great."I said to myself as I walked up the small flight of stairs.

The D.J. looked over at me as I neared him. His dark sunglasses, which seemed unneeded in the darkness and multicolored lights, showed did little to show me what race he was.

"So, you're the girl?" He yelled to me over the music. A pop song was booming loudly over the speakers and hundreds of people were dancing on the extensive floor. I nodded and yelled back to him that I was. After a quick glance, back out to the dance I saw the same amount of diverse creatures as before. Would they even listen to me? Crap, what if they boo me off the stage? Maybe, if I sing bad enough, they'll send me home! Maybe-

"-name, kid!"

The D.J. was fervently shaking my shoulder.

"What?" I asked stupidly.

"Your name? So I can tell the people who you are?"

"Oh! It's Charolette!" I said quickly. I could hear the music begin its decent to the finish.

"Charolette?" He affirmed.

"Thompson! Charolette Thompson!"

The music stopped. The D.J. picked up a hand held mic and spoke into it.

"Yo, everyone! We have a very special guest with us tonight. A guest of Mr. Mammoth Mogul's, Charolette Thompson!"

He motioned to me, and out of no where a spotlight blinded my eyes. I swiftly covered them with my arm as a couple hundred voices cheered for me. I wondered if Miles was…

I felt the mic being thrust into my free hand, and the spotlight in front of me switched to one overhead and a light blue wash covered the stage. I faintly saw the sequins on my dress shimmer more than usual.

"Hope you know this one." I heard the D.J. say to me as the music started. Almost a pulsing whine filled the speakers. I faintly recalled the song from back home. I think. I took a quick glance back over to where Finitevus and the others were. The whine made its way into a guitar whine and the drums began. Oh, how very appropriate.

"I am an arms dealer.  
Fitting you with weapons in the form of words.  
And don't really care which side wins  
As long as the room keeps singing  
That's just the business I'm in, yeah!

"This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race!  
This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race!  
This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race!  
I'm not a shoulder to cry on,  
But I digress."

I sang into the mic. This was what it was like to sing. 'So many people. So many…' I spun around as the drums kicked in. 

"I'm a leading girl!  
and the lies I weave are, oh so intricate,  
Oh so intricate!

"I'm a leading girl!  
and the lies I weave are, oh so intricate,  
Oh so intricate!"

I walked around towards the D.J. I'd need help with this next bit.

"I wrote the gospel on giving up." 

"You look pretty sinking." The D.J. Added. 

"But the real bombshells have already sunk.  
Prima donnas of the gutter.  
At night we're painting your trash gold while you sleep  
Crashing not like hips or cars,  
No, more like p-p-p-parties.

"This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race!  
This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race!  
This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race!  
This bandwagon's full  
Please, catch another

"I'm a leading girl!  
and the lies I weave are, oh so intricate,  
Oh so intricate!

"I'm a leading girl!  
and the lies I weave are, oh so intricate,  
Oh so intricate!

"Yeah…  
Whoa-oh."

I walked towards the center of the stage, I was smiling like a crazed loon I was just sure of it. It was then, I felt it. The pulse the first time the Emerald went into my body. When I yelled that night at Scourge. That morning… I felt the energy spread throughout me. Slower than usual. That couln't be good. The worst part, I couldn't stop singing.

"All the boys who the dance floor didn't love,  
And all the girls whose lips couldn't move fast enough  
Sing, until your lungs give out!"

By now, I didn't have control. It was all gone. The Emerald made me hold out my hand to the audience. The audience who complied. 

"This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race!  
This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race!" They shouted.

"Now you." I said, walking over to the other side of the stage.

"This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race!"

"Wear out the groove!"

"This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race!"

"Sing out loud!" I tapped my foot against the ground to the beat. And at each beat, I felt more energy rush to me. Energy most definitely being taken from the audience. And not just from those on the dance floor in front of me. There was much more than that…

"This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race!"

"Oh, oh!"

"This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race!"

"I'm a leading girl!  
and the lies I weave are, oh so intricate,  
Oh so intricate

"I'm a leading girl!  
and the lies I weave are, oh so intricate,  
Oh so intricate!"

I punched my hand up in the air as the last chord of the song was strummed. The cymbols wafted out of existence and I felt the energy. All the energy flowing into me, around me, under me, over me. Everywhere. It felt… amazing.

Slowly, I let my arm fall to my side and I sank to the ground, panting and breathing heavily. I felt as though I could run a couple marathons, but my body said get real.

"Amazing."

I glanced up and saw Mogul, the Doctor, and everyone else standing at the entrance to the dance floor. Wait, I shouldn't be able to see them…

"The people!" I shouted, quickly scrambling to the front of the stage to get a better look. My breath caught. The floor was littered with bodies. Bodies of people, animals, and anything in between. They all were laying comatose on the ground.

"What happened?" I muttered to myself as I sank to the ground.

"That is the power of the Emerald." I heard Mogul say to the doctor.

"Indeed. This opens up a whole new avenue to the experiment."

"Meez Charolette." I looked up and saw Patches in my direct line of vision.

I pulled myself up and fell into his arms. The medals hanging off his jacket were cool against my otherwise warm skin.

"They're all dead." I said. "They're all dead because of me!"

"They aren't dead." I looked past Patches coat and saw Miles stand up from expecting a body.

"They're just passed out." I heaved a sigh of relief. At least I couldn't be called a killer…yet. If I do that again… who knows?

"Well, Charolette, I think we've gotten somewhere tonight." I looked over to see Finitevus walking towards me. He was smiling evily, and the now slow moving lights flickered across his face. For some reason I thought he looked like Jaws, the way he was moving towards me. Like he was going to rip my guts out and eat them for a midnight snack.

"Who knew all she'd need is an audience?" I heard Scourge ask.

"Yeah," I said, looking down at the face of a passed out audience member. "Who knew?"


	9. Chapter 9: The Dignity

Chapter 9 – The Dignity

"How was that?" I asked expectantly, looking over at the mirrored glass on the wall of the room.

"Wonderful." Came Finitevus' response. "Now, do it again."

I sighed and looked to the ground where Boomer was lying. The poor robotic walrus had been today's pick of 'punching bag'. So far I'd sung 'Footloose' about five times in the past hour, and each time I finish, he drops to the floor for about ten minutes until he comes to again. I felt fine to say the least. Actually… I felt great! It sickened me to take Boomer's energy from him, but it was just… so much fun. Ever since Mogul's, Finitevus made sure I practiced my singing in front of a person, so he could see the effects. Unfortunately, it didn't end so well for the person I was singing to. Like Boomer, most victims just got drained.

"Can't we just stop for today, please? I'm getting tired." I whined.

Finitevus gave me his famous quirked eyebrow stare.

"Charolette, you've been doing this for the past three weeks and not once have you complained from being tired."

So he saw through my rouse… Dang.

"Then, can I take a break for a while? I'm sure Patches would spar with me, so I wouldn't completely waste my time." I reasoned. Boomer groaned in his comatose state and whacked his metal arm against the floor. The sound bounced off the walls.

"I suppose… but you must practice again tonight, understood? And Scourge will be your playmate until then. Patches has other matters to attend to." Finitevus said as he walked away on the other side of the wall. No doubt he was going to his lab.

"What should I do with Boomer?" I called.

"Leave him!"

"Okay…" I murmured to myself. Stepping over his unmoving body I walked through and closed the hidden door in the wall. Hopefully he'd sleep well in a soundproof room.

I walked slowly through the hallways, mildly angry that I couldn't go to see Pathces. Hell, I hadn't seen him in a few days. No doubt by sword skills are getting a little rusty…

But I've had enough of Finitevus telling me what to do. Why couldn't I help Patches with his 'other matters' or something? He's better than hanging around other 'bad influences' I know… Man, if he ticked me off too much more I may end up singing in front of him…

I smiled at the thought of Finitevus lying at my feet. Helpless and – wait. What was I thinking? As far as I could remember I was never this violent.

But, why was I doing what he wanted? I knew I was more powerful than him at the very least, and no one but Fiona would really lift a finger to try to hurt me. If I could just take down the Doctor… threaten him and drain him, Fiona being a minor bonus… then again… with my luck, no one else would know how to get me back home. And I still haven't found anyone who had the technology, or want, to get me back.

I shivered and continued to walk down the cool hallways. Eventually I found myself in the basement. All the cold stones pressing up around me though they never moved. The spider-webs blew eerily in the darkness. And faintly, up ahead, I saw something shine.

I ran towards it and stopped just as I was about to pass it. A silver acorn on a silver chain.

"Pretty." I whispered to myself as I picked it up off the ground. It was a little dusty, but it still looked nice either way.

"What are you doing down here?" Asked a voice from behind me as I stopped halfway from putting the necklace on. I turned quickly.

"Scourge?"

"Who else would it be?" He asked as he walked up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. "And , why YOU down here?"

"Just wandering around. Didn't want to deal with Finitevus anymore, you know?" I said. He nodded and rolled his eyes in response.

"Yeah, I do. And if I knew I wasn't going to get chewed out by several people, I'd take you out for a bit."

I looked up at him and smiled.

"And who could possibly be so fearsome that it would stop the great and terrible Scourge from doing what he wanted?" I asked, putting my hands on his chest. The chain of the necklace clinked against the zipper of his black leather jacket. He looked down at me and revealed a maw of sharp teeth.

"Fiona and Finitevus. Not to mention Miles would attempt to kill me if I 'kidnapped' you." He said putting his hands over my own. I blushed, and looked away, thinking of all the times my mother tried to warn me about guys like him. Why didn't I listen to her? I would never have been here if I did and-,

"What's this?" I shook my head and focused on Scourge who opened my hand with the necklace.

"I don't know, I found it lying on the ground just a couple minutes ago. Isn't it pretty?" I asked letting him take it.

"It is. But how did you JUST find it down here? I gave it to you back on Earth."

I stared at him blankly.

"What?"

"Yeah, back when the Doc first brought you back. I told you to keep this with you. Don't you pay any attention?" He asked making a twirling motion with his finger. I complied and turned to face away from him. I saw the tiny silver acorn pass my line of vision and lower onto my chest. The metal was pleasantly warm from being in both our hands.

"There. All done."  
I turned back around to see Scourge beaming with the perverse joy he usually found in everyday life.

"What is it?" I ask worriedly.

"Nothing, Charolette. Just… keep it hidden okay? It'll protect you when you need it." He said, patting my shoulder.

I watched him walk away and carefully tucked the necklace into my shirt before running after him.

"So, what are YOU doing down here if I may ask." I questioned.

"I'm just walking around. Aren't I allowed to? Seeing as it's my castle and all that." He retaliated.

"I suppose you can. …So, when did you become a King?"

"A couple years ago. And I ruled pretty well until I learned about my goody two-shoes counterpart, Sonic the Hedgehog. Fiona went to see what he was all about, and after a while, so did I. Needless to say there have been – erm - complications to his ultimate demise? But with you're help, it shouldn't be too much longer until he's gone, and I can take my rightful place as ruler of Moebius and Mobius." He growled. The flames from the lamps flickered evilly across his face during his rant. And for a brief moment I was frightened. But only for a brief moment. His want and need of conquest intrigued me.

"Do you think I'll ever meet this Sonic?" I asked.

"I hope you don't have to. He'd probably try to convert you to his side. You know, how Jehovah's Witness try to convert the people back on Earth?"

"Ha! Ha! Yeah, I know what you mean." I smiled at him.

We walked in silence for a while, our footsteps the only sound in the hallways.

"Where are we going?" I asked, turning down another cobweb filled path.

"Honestly, I don't know. You said the Doc gave you some time off?" Scourge replied.

"Yeah. He did. I have to go back later and sing some more,though. I just don't think Boomer could've handled too much more."

"I know what you mean. It hurts when you do that, you know?"

"No, I don't. But I can imagine."

Everyone BUT the Doctor had fallen pray to my voice in the past couple weeks. And each time they either ended up not being able to move a part of their body for a few hours, or getting completely drained of energy- like Boomer. I always felt awesome after I sang, but… there were definitely repercussions to my moral code.

"Well, at least you're getting better. I mean, my ears don't bleed anymore."

I whirled on him.

"You're still going on about that? I thought you were cool with it!" I shouted, jumping and putting my arms around his green neck. He chuckled, placed his hands over mine and began to spin around in tight circles.

"Never, Charolette!" He replied, laughing like mad.

"Stop it! I'm gonna hurl!" I shouted. He slowed to a halt and turned his head.

"No. If you wanna hurl, you're gonna half to go a lot faster than this." He jumped, causing me to fly up away from his body, and caught me around my legs as I came back down. All in a split second.

Being a babysitter for most of my 'working' life, I knew this position.

"Hold on to your butt!" He said, as he pretty much flew down the hallway. Or at least, that what it seemed like. I mean, I couldn't really see where I was going, as the force of the wind was keeping my eyes closed.

But I could feel the wind. Feel it blowing through my hair and over my face as Scourge ran. To the left, to the right, to the right again. I remembered this sort of feeling. Not knowing where I was going.

As a child, I remembered sitting on the swings in my backyard, kick myself up as high as I could go, then lean back and close my eyes. Plummeting towards the Earth at the zenith of my forwards swing with my eyes closed. Falling so fast with my hair streaming past my face. Gaining speed until I was the right way up again and had to pump to get back to the other side.

And again, I'd fall in my own little world.

When my dad was behind me, I'd let go of the ropes….

Without even thinking I let go of my own wrists and began to slide my hands away from Scourge's neck….

Whiplash then occurred as Scourge abruptly stopped as fast as he could –taking a good ten seconds at least. I grabbed onto him and screamed as he came to a halt.

"Owww." He groaned.

"Sorry," I apologized, sliding off his back. "Why'd we stop? Is something wrong?"  
I looked at our surroundings only to see that we were no longer in the castle proper, but somewhere outside it in the surrounding forest.

"Yeah, something was wrong! What the HELL where you thinking? Letting go while I was running that fast! You could've died, Charolette!" He yelled at me, his eyes and teeth flashing. I backed up a few steps and winced.

"I'm sorry!" I answered quickly.

"Sorry doesn't cut it!" He snapped, walking towards me. "At the speed I was going- if you would've fallen off, months upon months of time would've gone to waste!"

I backed up against a tree and cringed as he towered over me.

_And to think that we were having a good time less than a minute ago…._

Scourge hit the tree behind me and leaned in close.

"I don't want to lose you Charolette. You're way too important to lose now…. So, the next time you're holding onto me and I'm running at a couple hundred miles per hour, do NOT let the hell go!"

He pushed away from me and the tree, both, and only then did I remember to breathe again.

"Well, the next time you decide to go over the speed limit, let me know, kay?" I told him, placing my hands on my hips.

He turned around and gave me another one of his cocky smiles.

"Charolette, there IS no speed limit."

I smiled and ran towards him when I see the ground begin to get closer and closer and CLOSER!

As soon as I landed face first on the ground, I felt some sort of a living being use my back as a spring board and shove me further into the ground.

"Oh great." I heard Scourge's deep voice mutter from above.

"What is it?" I asked, pushing myself up and spitting grass from my mouth. "Cause I need to hurt it right now."

As I looked up, I saw a woman… okay, a woman Moebian, standing in front of me. Her long, dark chestnut colored hair was knotted and tangled, her once blue uniform was stained, cut and torn from traipsing around the woods, her eyes shining with the intensity of a pack of wolves on the hunt.

"Scourge," I said, slowly standing up, never taking my eyes off her. "WHO the hell is that?"

"THAT, Babe, is the reason you shouldn't get involved with Miles." Scourge replied. "Isn't that right, Alicia!"

The woman, Alicia, snapped her gaze onto Scourge, and screamed a bloodthirsty war cry as she ran forward.


	10. Chapter 10: The Game

Chapter 10- The Game

It took Scourge all of two seconds to push me back onto the ground.

I yelped, but I couldn't really register it myself, as Alicia was making enough noise for Mogul to hear from the casino. I quickly sat up looked towards where the two of them were duking it out.

Alicia still had the upper hand at the moment. She had Scourge pinned to the ground and was trying her best to get his face in between her teeth. He had his hand directly over her eyes and was trying to get his feet under her stomach, but the way she was clawing and kicking at him didn't do him much good whatsoever.

"Charolette, get outa here!" He shouted to me through clenched teeth.

"The hell I will!" I shouted back to him as I stood up again. "HEY! Alicia!"

She stopped and looked back towards me, her eyes… hungry…

It was at that point -when looking certain death in the eye- that any form of intelligent thought fled from my mind in a frenzied panic.

"Frack." I said backing up, as Alicia's stare bore into my own. Scourge attempted to get up, when she backhanded his face, sending his person flying to the ground.

"Scourge!" I yelled.

Alicia made another blood curdling yell-something between the screech of a night owl and the roar of a lion- and lunged at me.

My knee gave out, sending me straight to the ground as she flew over me, landing a few feet away with even more anger in her gaze as her prey (me) was not clenched inside her maw.

I revved my feet against the ground and ran towards Scourge, sliding next to him as Alicia pounced on my last location.

"Are you all right?" I asked him, shaking his shoulder, looking back at Alicia who was shaking her head in confusion. "Scourge, talk to me."

"Yeah, I'm fine." He grumbled.

"Good. Then plug your ears!" I shouted as Alicia jumped.

She was air born. Her crazed eyes were focused on me, and her mouth was opened in a maniacal rage. She began her descent. Hands open, ready to catch me and tear me apart.

I screamed.

"MII-!"

In front of me I heard Alicia land, and saw her writhing on the ground, holding her ears and making a terrifying, unearthly sound of pain.

I smiled at her misery.

"Come on," I said, standing up to walk away. "She won't be able to hurt us now."

I felt him grab onto my shirt, and pull himself up.

"Not now, but once she gets over your blast, she'll be up again. And now she's got our scent. She'll follow us back to the castle, you can count on that, Babe." He said, looking down on her squirming body.

I saw him wince.

"I'd hate to be on the receiving end, THAT much I know." He murmured.

"Really? I'd think you'd be able to take her down no problem." I said.

"Oh, I know I could. It's just the part of her being a mindless wreck for the past couple months makes me less willing to do so."

"And that's the only reason she hasn't found the castle? Because she's mindless? Well, she certainly recognized you, and there's no doubt in my mind that if she saw anyone else she'd jump at the scent of them too. "

"True that. But Boomer's been feeding her raw meat. That overtakes his scent which is covered at large by his metal bits. She's been happy with that."

"And you haven't dealt with her since she left?"

"Obviously not." He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he motioned to the ground.

"Then maybe we should just, do what you guys should've done a while ago?" I asked him. From the corner of my eye I saw him slowly look over at me in complete and utter disbelief.

He shut his widely open mouth and looked back down at Alicia, now whimpering.

"If she was as much of a problem as you said she was, then we should take care of her." I said. "No one would have to deal with her anymore. Am I right? And, she'd be at peace."

Before he could utter a response, I saw Miles land just behind Alicia. His normally smoothed over gray hair was slightly askew and his eyes were wild in worry.

"What's going- ON!" He shouted, then spotting Alicia on the ground.

"Nothing. She just tried to jump us while we were taking a walk." I said motioning to her shaking body. "What should we do with her?"

Miles looked down at his ex-lover apparent in what appeared to be a look of fear, confusion, and mild horror. Even I could still see the blood from the raw meat on her hands.

He stayed like that for a few moments, pondering over her fate when she began to sit up and looked over in his direction.

I saw fear flash in Mile's eyes as he took a step back.

_Fear? Goodness, wasn't that new for the Moebians…_

"M-miles?" She stammered, crawling hesitantly towards him. Her mouth rolled over his name as she tried to remember the memories to go along with it. "Mmmiles?"

"Alicia." He said, covering his mouth with a gloved hand. "I'm so sorry."

"Yuuuu. G-one." She said, pushing herself onto her knees. "Yuuu, lef-tuh."

His eyes closed tightly and a small tear dripped from his eyes.

"Miles. GONE!" She screamed, standing up swiftly, crouching low.

Well, she was back…. That was short lived…

Miles opened his eyes as she was about to pounce, waiting for his just deserves, when Scourge spin-dashed her to the ground, baring his own fangs against hers.

"Knock it off." I heard him growl. "This isn't you, Alicia. Snap out of it!"

"Miles, leave me!" She screamed in beautiful, harmonious, heart wrenching agony. "Miles, lie me!"

"Get off her, Scourge." Miles said, sternly. "This is my problem, and I intend to deal with her accordingly."

"Your funeral dude!" Scourge said, rolling off her.

Almost instantly, Alicia sprung up and charged towards Miles, who took the impact and landed on the ground with all her fury on top of him.

She clawed him, bit him, ripped his fur, spat in his face, and cursed his very name by screaming it to the Heavens.

Eventually, when he successfully looked like he had just made it through the Vietnam War, he put his hands on her stomach and flung her up so he could roll out and stand.

"Now that I've repaid, I'll fight." He said, putting his hands up into a guard.

That was new… I'd never seen Miles attempt to fight anyone except verbally. He didn't have as much muscle definition as Scourge at all, which in this case might've been a good thing. Alicia had been surviving in the wilds for a while, and she had not only muscle, but raw energy and revenge on her side.

Miles was in for it.

Beside me Scourge guffawed and broke down laughing.

"Dude! Miles, are you joking? You can barely open a jar of pickles, let alone take on your rabid ex-girlfriend!"

"Don't test me hedgehog." Miles said, flying into the air and kicking Alicia's face. "You may be next."

"I'm quaking in my boots." Was his response.

While Miles was doing his best to get any sort of edge on his ex, I could tell Scourge was right. He didn't stand a snowball's chance in Hell.

I took a few steps forward and kneeled down as Miles' body slid right up to me.

"Do you require some assistance?" I asked, looking down at him.

"Potentially." He groaned, with a furrowed brow. "MOVE!" Pushing on my knees, he made me land on my butt as Alicia landed on the ground directly in front of me.

"Would you like it now?" I asked, tucking my knees up casually to my chest, and leaning forward. She wasn't out for my blood as of now, as she had already turned her attention back to the fox who was spider-crawling backwards across the ground to get away from her attacks.

"No, I'm good!" He answered rolling to one side and standing up.

He feigned to one side before bolting behind her. She turned the other way, and round kicked him right past my face. He landed with a contenting 'THUD' against a tree branch. Calmly, I walked over to him as Alicia began to stalk closer.

"You want to change that? You'll be dead before the afternoon is over." I stated.

He glanced up at me with cold, tired, icy blue eyes.

"Fine." He groaned.

I smiled and looked back to Alicia. She certainly was ticked at him, that's for sure. I could use that alone for my advantage. The Wedding Singer aught to work, though…

"You thought you had the kind of love  
You'd find in fairy tales." I sang, looking into her eyes. She stopped dead in her tracks. I put my hand onto Miles' chest.  
"But then your boy ripped out your heart  
With his sharpened hard on nails.  
So if you know the kind of pain  
This looser's singin' of  
Well, let me hear you say it-  
You're just a casualty of love!  
Just a casualty of love!"

"I'm just a casualty of love!" She sang/shouted back to me. She looked a little confused as to why. That was normal. Boomer still wasn't used to it.

"Well I know why you do it.  
You're a casualty of love!" I pushed off Miles and walked towards her.

"You're just a casualty of love!" The two boys joined in, both following me to her.

"Just a casualty of love."

"Just a casualty of—love!"

"We're from different walks of life,  
And different points of view.  
But we come together now"

"Through our hatred of you!  
Cause you're a casualty of love!" We sang together.

"Love's a trick, love's a trap.  
Love's a hot chick with the clap.  
Love's a hoax, love's a tease.  
A pinata full of bees!  
Love's a joke, love's a scam.  
A Sargent Slaughter body slam.  
Love's a wound, watch it bleed  
Love's the only thing I..." I sang, dancing around the various creatures present. I could feel Alicia's, Scourge's and Miles' life forces giving up to me. I felt, stronger. Powerful… Dangerous.

"You'll end up just like him,  
Cause, trust me, love always ends." Scourge crooned, motioning towards Miles.

"You'll be fat, divorced, and broke  
While she makes love with all of your friends." I said to Miles. His eyes flashed, even under my spell, from the words. I could feel his energy too, now.

"You'll be a casualty of love.  
Love's a trick, love's a trap.  
Love's a hot chick with the clap.  
Love's a wound, watch it bleed.  
Love's the only thing I need!  
I need!" I sang, pushing the fox towards his slowly dying ex. 

"No one's ever gonna love,  
A casualty of LOVE!" Miles finished strongly.

As the last preverbal note left his mouth, Alicia dropped like a ton of bricks to the ground. I took a deep breath and inhaled as she wheezed out gasps of slow, short breaths.

"Well, that was fun." I said, breaking the silence. Miles shook his head, and I spotted some yellow Chaos Emerald essence fall from his person as he realized what state of being Alicia was in.

"Oh my God!" He shouted, crouching down next to her, holding her close.

"What happened?" Scourge asked groggily, holding his head.

"She's dead, that's what happened!" Miles yelled, glaring at me.

"She's not dead. She's just…. Temporarily out of service. She should be good as new in a little while." I reasoned. "I mean, she was hardly out when I hit her the first time!"

"But you didn't use us then, either." Scourge said. "That was all you. This time it was the three of us."

"Well, can't we take her back with us? Finitevus might want to study her or something. You never know. And then you can take care of her." I pointed out the two of them.

Alicia's breaths were now far and few in between.

_What if these were here last breaths?_ I thought to myself. _What if I took too much of her energy and she dies?_

These were the sort of things I didn't want to be bothered by. I mean, not too many kids my age had to worry about the murder of another person—or 'being' in this case—on a regular basis and I didn't really feel like starting said hypothetical statistic. Not really on my to-do list.

"What do you think, Miles? Want to take your ex back to the castle?" Scourge questioned with a big grin on his face.

The poor fox, with his torn uniform, messed up hair, and bloodied fur looked up at the two of us with forsaken eyes.

"Yes. I do, Scourge." He said, picking her up carefully. "If you'll go back now and tell the Dr. I'll be bringing her back shortly?"

Scourge rolled his eyes.

"Why not? You coming, Charolette?" He questioned.

I looked back to Miles and figured he'd like to be left alone for a while.

"Sure," I said, jumping onto his back again.

He wrapped his arms around my legs.

"Just no more 'Titanic' moments please?"

"No worries." I responded, grabbing my wrist from around his neck.

As he sped off, leaving Miles in the dust, I couldn't help but feel the wind pump my already churning blood through my body even faster. Not to mention all the Chaos that pulled in Miles', Scourge's, and Alicia's energy that was added even on top of that.

I felt great.

Lively.

Wonderful.

All physically anyway.

But, all I could remember was how Alicia fell to the ground because of my gain. And that deep down inside of me, I was fine with it.


	11. Chapter 11: The Light

Chapter 11- The Light

In the end, Finitevus saw everything that went on and let me off for the rest of the week in order to run tests on Alicia like I had thought. Patches spent most of his time down there, so I was forced to either spend time with Scourge, Miles, Boomer, or Fiona.

Scourge was usually lounging or bumming around Finitevus—to whom I am surprised at for not disemboweling him with a spoon —Boomer was usually helping Finitevus with the tests he ran on Alicia, while Fiona was usually trying to see to it that Scourge was kept occupied in order to not bother Finitevus as much as physically possible. At the u very /u least, nothing blew up due to his throwing of spontaneous levers and buttons, so I suppose I should count my blessings where I got them.

This meant that Miles was the only one around to help me with my 'lessons', as we were now calling them, and he honestly wasn't too happy with me when this came about. The most he really told me was that he'd provide a test subject for me every day and take me to the casino at night for extra practice. Other than that… I never got a chance to talk to him about what happened in the forest.

But, whatever.

I practiced on my own during the days.

And it was during those few days that I actually saw some inhabitants of Moebius.

They didn't look like the casino patrons. A bit more 'punk' for lack of a better description. They reminded me of the emo kids found back on Earth with just a tad more originality. They were my audience.

I only really had one mess up during this time… one of the girls I was singing for lost her pulse completely while I was singing 'Can't Take It In' by Imogen Heap.

She died…

I made her dance… and I guess she u couldn't /u take it in…

"Miles?" I asked him one day after the body was sent back to her family. "Am I bad to have done that? I mean, she had a family… Just like I do…"

He glanced at me and breathed a small sigh.

"It does not make you bad, Charolette."

"Then WHAT does it make me?" I retaliated sharply.

"It makes you aware of the power that you are in possession of, and the price that can accompany such a gift."

"Is that what this should be called? A gift? Someone is dead because of me!" I grabbed the front of his gold buttoned jacket and pulled myself up so I was almost eye level with him. "I am NOT a killer, Miles! I am not supposed to do this!"

Calmly, as if he was only comforting a child about a broken toy, he patted my head and looked down at me with his icy cool blue eyes. I looked back up at him and saw the same concern for me that I had seen him show towards Alicia…

"No one ever said that you WERE a killer. It was a misfortune, to be sure, but something that inevitably has to happen in everyone's life."

"Yes, and who knows what she might've been able to do with that life had it not been for me?"

"Charolette, please understand that what you did was merely an accident. You were trying to control something you simply could not control. Yes, it's a terrible thing, what happened to the poor young lady, but think of it as a learning experience. Now you know what you have to accomplish in order for it to not happen again."

"But what if it had been you?" I asked. I felt him tense up under my grasp. "What if it had been you instead of her?"

His white gloved fingertip found my chin and lifted my face towards his. He smiled, a sweet, sorrowful smile that made my heart yearn for my mother to hold me close and tell me that everything would be all right.

"It iwasn't/i me, Charolette. And that's the important thing."

I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes, and I embraced him. He slowly wrapped his arms around my tiny human waist, and with my legs dangling to the ground he carried me up to my room, and eventually I felt myself being laid down upon my bed.

"Please, Charolette, do not dwell on this." He whispered to me, unwrapping my arms from around him.

His footsteps walked towards the door, then stopped.

"I'll take you to Mogul's in a couple hours." He added as an after thought.

I was left alone to ponder my fate.

I had killed someone. I had taken someone's life!

Back on Earth… back on Earth I would've been thrown into jail regardless if I had mal-intent or not when it came to the actual deed of murdering someone. Not to mention I'd never felt the need to brutally hurt anyone, let alone kill!

The only thing is… after thinking about it… I didn't really see how bad it was that the girl had died…

Mentally, I know it's a horrible thing, to take a person's life, but emotionally, I felt nothing for the girl.

I had not known her the way I knew Miles or Scourge or Patches. I had not known her aspirations in life, or what she had accomplished.

There was nothing that made me feel remorse for what I had done. Only my mind and my conscience telling me that it was a terrible crime that I had committed.

The Emerald. TheChaos Emerald Dr. Finitevus shoved –oh, sorry – magically shoved into my body the day I got here…

The power that went along with it… I didn't know how to use it. And even if my voice were to become strong enough to wield that sort of power, who's to say that I wouldn't kill anyone again to learn how to?

The very word 'chaos' implies the impossible to become possible. Abnormalities to become the normalcy. Good to become bad.

This Chaos Energy, this unidentifiable force would not accept failure. Failure meaning losing to the long standing way of doing what is right simply because one should.

Chaos was to make its own way at any cost.

I was the cost. I was the bearer of this terrible power… and I liked it.

But… the question remained… was it a bad thing that the girl died?

She served no greater purpose in my quest to master this un-mastered power than to demonstrate what will happen along the way. The inevitable must occur for something so fantastic to be controlled.

Finitevus wished to make this sort of power accessible to his own kind, and to do that he had to learn through me.

I should've been honored for such a task as this! Why was I spending my time brooding over this little accident, this bump in the road, when I had to understand exactly what it was that made me great?

No… that girl was merely a learning experience for me. Nothing more.

And besides… I felt fantastic.

I smiled to myself, quite content with my reasoning for the whole affair and got out of bed to walk around the castle. It would do well to stretch my legs before performing since the Casino was so busy.

Each night I'd go onto the stage, sing a song, leave the party go-ers drained of most of their energy, wherein they'd go to the bar to order drinks to rejuvenate themselves so they could come back and dance while I sang.

In the end, the trade-offs weren't that bad.

I got loads of wonderful raw energy, Finitevus got his data, and Mogul got almost more business than he could handle.

"So, she finally decides to come out of her hole." I heard a silky voice purr out of a dark corner.

"Don't you have to be babysitting your boyfriend, Fiona?" I asked icily, continuing to walk on.

I heard her boots click on the floor behind me.

"Actually no. Finitevus knocked him out with a tranquilizer dart, so I have a few free hours."

She strolled up beside me, her bright yellow bow a false beacon to all who saw her.

"And you want to spend them with me? Goodness, Fiona, I'm flattered." I responded sarcastically.

She smirked.

"Don't be. " She responded flatly. "Trust me, if I was allowed to go anywhere right now, I would."

"Then why don't you? The castle would smell u so /u much better if you did."

"Watch it, pipsqueak." She said, turning directly towards me, holding up a fist to my face. "You may be able to squeeze me dry, but I bet you I can knock you out before you try."

"Is that a challenge?" I asked, smiling. "Because if it is I accept."

Fiona, dropped her hand and let go.

"Sorry, but you're not even worth it."

"Really? I think you're just scared a little human girl like me could beat you in a fight one on one. Huh?"

"No. But, if I damaged you I'd get screwed over by both Finitevus and Mogul. Just be thankful you're under their protection, hun." 

"Why do you fear them so much? Obviously you excel in physical abilities with what they have in mental capabilities."

"It's not even a matter of 'fearing' them. It's a matter of hierarchy. Right now, Scourge needs the both of them in order to become stronger. And if I have to tolerate them in order for Scourge to get what he wants… then it's worth it."

"That's not what I'm getting from you. "

Fiona's ears shifted.

"Why do you stick around here, if every single thing you do is for Scourge? What if all he'll do in the end is get rid of you as well? Think of all the time you'll have wasted because you believed in him. Think of what you could've done had you not given your services and played pet to him."

Fiona stopped walking and I turned around to face her.

In the darkly lit hallway, she was glowing with a pale yellow light. She looked defeated, trampled on, worthless.

I then realized that the light came from me. Looking down at my hand, it was glowing with the same yellow light.

Chaos.

I could feel her flowing into me. All her haughtiness and her attitude. Pouring into my veins like a dam had broken open. I breathed in deeply then exhaled long and loud.

Ah. That felt good.

"Because I love him."

I was broken from the internal trance by her response.

"What?"

"I love him." Fiona spoke again, as if in a daze.

"Are you sure? Or is that just something you keep telling yourself to get through day by day by day?"

She looked at me, with hollow eyes.

"I'm sure."

"Then you're even more of an idiot than I thought." I said, walking on, deeper into the depths of the castle. Deeper into the lion's den.


	12. Chapter 12: The Undertow

Chapter 12- The Undertow

Something's wrong. Very wrong. Spinning out of control. HOLD ON! To what? There's nothing there! Spinning! Round and around and around and around and around and around and around and-

I sat up, breathing heavily and gasping for breath. I'd fallen asleep at the window seat in my room, and the little sliver of moonlight that fell through the tiny crack between the open windows

The cool air of my bedroom caused me to shiver, and I swiftly ran over to my bed and jumped into the warm swaths of cloth, covering them around me and enveloping myself in their comfort.

It was too damn cold in that room for someone who didn't have fur to cover her body.

I tried to relaxed myself, all my muscles, and lay still on the bed. I barely felt the material that was supposed to keep me warm.

It wasn't enough. Nothing was enough anymore.

Not food, not sleep, not any amount of tangible substance was enough for me anymore.

I was so hungry. Hungry for an appetite that I could never seem to fill. Every time I went to the Casino I came back to the castle wanting more. I'd sing to myself until I physically felt I couldn't anymore, only to wake up feeling better than before. I could care less as to why it was happening…all I knew is that I wanted more.

Yes, I wanted more.

And there was only one person who could give it to me.

I sat up, letting the blanket fall off me and allowing the cold air to wash over me. Even uthat/u wasn't enough…

I slid off the bed, to feel the cool stones on my bare feet and quickly walked over to the mirror. An object that had recently become a constant fascination to me. To look into it and to be able to see oneself is truly a remarkable thing. I cringed in knowing how taken for granted it was back on Earth.

Now if only we could see what we looked like inside… what thoughts went through our minds and made us the way we were…and if that alone determined how we looked.

Would a person who lived a good life eternally be a beautiful being to all who lays eyes upon them because it's God's will to give them something so wonderful? And inversely, would someone who has lived their life full of sin look repulsive to whomever happens to even glance at them?

I thought of this as I looked at myself.

Still gold in its color my once shoulder length hair had grown to go be halfway down my back.

I had initially blamed its excessive growth on my lack of a hair dresser. Next on the food I ate. Finally on my new diet concerning the Chaos energy

I patted my scalp, and pulled my mass of hair over to one side.

iNo… back on Earth my mother wouldn't have allowed my hair to become this disheveled. /i

Earth. Something promised to me that I still had not received.

I gave myself one final glance in the mirror before walking down to the laboratory.

"Finitevus!" I said, kicking open the door, not even bothering myself with something as tribal as a handle. I was above dirtying my hands on something disgusting as that.

Inside the dank hole the albino echidna inhabited, he stood in the center, his eyes trained right at me. His arms were crossed, and there was a smile on his face that suggested he expected my presence.

"Couldn't you sleep?" He grinned.

"As a matter of fact I couldn't." I said, walking up to him. "And there's no doubt in my mind you knew of this."

"A simple side effect to your fusion with the Emerald is all, there really is no need for worry."

"A 'simple side effect' is a rash. A 'simple side effect' is cramps. Continuous insomnia and hair growth are not! This has been going on for weeks, Finitevus, WEEKS! And you've done nothing to stop it or even study it! I haven't been one of your experiments for months, and although I think of it as a wonderful reprise, I want to know what the uHELL/u is going on." I growled, my face ending inches from his own.

Finitevus' glasses shielded his beady little eyes with the glare from a computer monitor on the opposite side of the room. His brows lifted and he bared his teeth at me.

"If you must know, Charolette, I have still been watching you-" He said, slowly turning around, his black cape trailing like an infectious plume of smog behind him. "And might I say that I applaud you at your impressive strides. Not only have you been able to absorb the energy of your targets, but make them do what you wish of them while doing it."

"But have you figured out how to get one of the Emeralds into Scourge?"

That was the question.

THAT was the reason for my being here.

Finitevus reached into the recesses of his robe and sat down in front of the computer monitor.

In his hand he held up what appeared to be a Chaos Emerald. One that had gone through any and all amounts of pollution to get it to that particular shade of smoking purple.

"What is it?" I asked in disgust.

"This, is what's know in Moebius as the Anarchy Beryl. The 'anti' to the Chaos Emerald."

"So? Big freaking deal."

"Yes, it is. You see, the Anarchy Beryl are much more common than the Emeralds. The one you have residing inside you is only one of seven while this is perhaps one of hundreds."

"All right. Big whoop. It's more common. It doesn't mean that it makes it more powerful seeing as it's in bulk."

"Ah, but even one Anarchy Beryl is a match for a Chaos Emerald. For example…"

He held out the polluted crystal and from nowhere, I felt the tendrils of the smoking purple essence wrap around me and start to take away the energy supply I'd slowly been collecting from victim to victim.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" I shouted. Immediately, the tendril receded back to the Anarchy Beryl and Finitevus.

I could see the glow emitting from my body clashing with the blue from the monitor. Finitevus dropped the Anarchy Beryl as though he had been burnt.

"Little swine!" He muttered under his breath.

"What can I say? I've learned from the best."

"Maybe a little too much." He agreed, slowly bending down to grab the crystal in the folds of his robes where it then disappeared.

"But, it's not as though it will matter much now. Your time with us is coming to an end."

I stopped breathing.

Was this it? Was this creep actually going to send me home? After nigh sixteen weeks of keeping me here, he might actually send me home early?

I could hardly suppress a smile at the thought of going back home. Wouldn't my friends be surprised with me?

"Wonderful. Now, when do you send me back, Doc?" I asked, walking over next to the stone tablet which held the instructions for the fusion. I brushed my fingers along the edge of it. "I mean, I know I'm getting sick of me being here, let alone the rest of ya."

"Funny thing about the whole situation, Charolette." Finitevus grinned from his chair. "You won't be returning home."

I whirled, my hair spinning after me.

"What?" I asked flatly. Darkly.

"You heard me. You will not be returning to Earth. Instead you'll be going to stay with Mogul at the Casino. He's offered a handsome fee for us allowing him to keep you."

"I never consented to this. And I'm NOT a piece of property for you to make deals with!" I shrieked. I felt myself willing the Chaos energy inside me to go to him and take what he had to offer me. I couldn't get it though. Something was blocking me from getting my energy.

"No, it wasn't. But, I've learned all I can from you and you've served your purpose. You are now dispensable."

I took a step towards him. He who seemed so at ease. Not that I could say I didn't expect it. Finitevus wasn't the sort of person who would be too bothered at the thought of throwing off a prior agreement for his own gain.

"No. I'm not." I said.

"Oh? And how do you figure this?"

"Because I can still fight. I've developed my power to be able to do near anything imaginable. And even if you could get one of those Anarchy Beryls inside of Scourge, it could not match the power compared to that of a true and pure Chaos Emerald."

Finitevus laughed.

"I ulove/u how you think you know so much about the ancient crystals from your short time with us, Charolette. It's truly amusing!"

"I'm not a child, Finitevus. DO NOT DOUBT ME!"

I held my hand out in front of me, facing the echidna. I was still trying to reach his slimy little neck. But I couldn't… What was in my way?

"It's not that I doubt you, Charolette. I no longer wish to babysit a stubborn little child and entertain her with the promise of going home. For, you see, we can't possibly send you back."

"And why not?"

"We don't have enough energy, time, or need to send you back. You serve a much better purpose here than on Earth anyway. What would you be there, hmmm? A part time waitress at a fast food restaurant? That's not a life you should be living with this power I've given you. The potential you have right now is better be utilized here where no one is going to question what you wield and where you would be respected for it. Where your government wouldn't poke or prod you to find out the secrets of this power. The Emerald is a part of you. Now and forever. There's no changing that, Charolette, so please don't look so put out. There are many here who would love to have you on their side to fight for them."

"Then why don't you keep me here instead of giving me to Mogul?" I asked, wishing so desperately that I could ring his skinny little neck as to completely eradicate the source of my torture.

"As I told you before, he's offered us a great bargain for you." Finitevus said, leaning forward to rest his chin on the palms of his hands. "And what use would I have for one person like you when I've successfully created an entire fighting force?"

He snapped his fingers, and from the doors on either side of the room calmly entered Scourge, Fiona, Boomer, Patches, Miles, and even Alicia; three of whom were giving me malicious smiles, and three of whom looked too ashamed to look me in the eye.

Guess that answered my question.

I looked at all of them, and back to Finitevus.

"But, ho-,"

"Did he do it? Simple, sweet pea." Fiona said, walking towards me, her orange fox tail swishing back and forth. "You see, while you were out at the Casino, the Doctor took the time to implant all of us with our own Anarchy Beryl."

"And thanks to all the hard work you did, we were able to learn pretty quickly." Scourge added, stepping up behind me and putting his arm around my shoulder. He gave me a playful squeeze.

Alicia, who still looked as though she retained some of her wild stature, looked at me –again—as though I was Sunday lunch.

"It really was quite simple to learn what to do because of you, Charolette. And it was easier still to teach them what to do and how to use their powers." Spoke Finitevus.

I looked over to the three who hadn't yet spoken.

"Is it true?" I asked. "Is what they've said true?"

Patches, fiddled with the sword along his waist. Boomer adjusted his metal eye. Miles looked up at me and solemnly nodded.

I blinked in response, and promptly removed myself from Scourge's wrap.

"This won't work you know. The Anarchy Beryl is only made of darkness while the Emerald inside me is made of light. And light always overpowers the darkness."

"Ah, but light can be so easily extinguished." Finitevus grinned.

"And harnessed." Scourge added. "Darkness has a will of its own, Babe."

"Oh yeah? Well, so do I!" I said, turning and bolting towards the door. A step in, and I felt a wave of wind rush past me to see Scourge standing in between me and the door.

i"Cause I'm flat on the floor

With my head down low

Where the sky can't rain on me anymore."/i I sang to myself as I neared Scourge. A step away and I dived right between his legs, tucked my head into my arms and landed out the hallway. As I turned around Scourge turned, ready to grab for me.

i"STOP! Hammer time./i I spoke willing the energy to wrap around Scourge. I smiled to myself as I stood up and patted his frozen green body.

"Sorry. I've had a blast, but I gotta boogie." I said, bolting down the hallway.

It wasn't until I was around the corner to the stairs I heard Scourge yell.

i"GET HER!"/i

I heard the force in his voice. The command. He'd used his Anarchy Beryl just as I had used my Chaos Emerald. And now, they'd be coming after me.

"Yum." I said to myself, taking the stairs three at a time, my hair flying back behind me.

I was going to be as methodical as possible about this… this sick "Adrenaline game" as possible. What have I learned through all these weeks?

Scourge found me out to always be in the most obvious spots. The places with the best hidey holes that were most familiar to me. I'd have to count out my sound proof room and my own due to the familiarity of them. The lab was out, Finitevus would probably still be hiding there and… wait!

The new plan of mine hit me like a ton of bricks due to the simplicity of it.

Finitevus wouldn't be coming after me. He's too old, not to mention he lacks the physical strength to fight me. But if I could get him without his body guards I could kill him myself and get away while they're occupied with his remains. All I'd have to do was fool the others.

Easier said than done upon occasion.

I ran out of the stairwell into the third floor hallway where some of their rooms were. If I recalled correctly, Fiona's room was on this floor as was Patches. Fiona might have more perfume scents to hide me, though Patches presumed 'sweat' smell might be stronger.

I opted for Fiona's room if not for the fact that there was the chance that I could ruin some of her belongings in the process.

And sure enough, there was her room with the door wide open. I ran in, knowing full well I had the advantage of a head start to ensure her not waiting for me.

And she wasn't waiting for me. Her lack of a hiding place room was. I'd never been inside her room before, so I didn't know what to expect. Clothes if nothing else, but it looked like no one lived in the room. It was just decorated to look fancy. At the very least, I wouldn't have to worry about tripping over anything in the dark.

But there was her closet and her bed. In the event someone was to find me, the closet would be the preferred choice, so I quickly ran over to it, flung open the door and scrambled inside. Her nicely folded clothes got crushed and wrinkled under me as I adjusted my back against the back board and closed the door, trapping me in the dark.

i"Let the rain fall down

And wake my dreams.

Let it wash away my sanity.

Cause I wanna feel the thunder

I wanna scream

Let the rain fall down

I'm coming clean."/i I whispered to myself. From inside the closet I couldn't make out the effects of my handiwork, though I knew what the outcome would be. Hopefully the rain would take away a little bit of my scent if they were searching for me that way, and if I could wait here until they were in one of the other parts of the castle I could easily get out and go back down to the basement. Or, I could always jump out the window to escape should things get too hairy.

I smiled to myself.

iToo hairy. Hah! That's great./i

I heard voices from outside. The hallway. They were too far away to be inside the room and I couldn't make out who they were.

Their footsteps came close. I could hear the 'clacks' of their boots as they walked in front of the door… and continued walking on.

Just as I thought. No one would check in Fiona's room.

The footsteps came back.

Except these morons I suppose.

I pulled my knees into my chest preparing to release the springs as soon as the closet door opened as the footsteps entered the room. I heard some deep mumbling as they began to walk around.

It had to be Boomer. None of the other guys had a voice that deep.

"C'mon Charolette. Where are ya?" He asked as he walked past the closet. I saw the gleam of his metallic head as he passed by the crack in between the doors. My heart was pounding in my chest. If Boomer opened the door I'd have to take care of him quickly less he made a noise.

"Did you find anyzing?"

Patches.

"Nothing. And I don't want to be held responsible for going through her stuff." Boomer said walking back towards the door.

"Oui. I completely agree weeth you."

"But, where do you suppose she is?"

Patches response was inaudible as they walked down the hall.

I heard nothing else for five minutes, and I decided to move my position. Cautiously, I opened the door to peek out – no one was there – and quietly land on the ground. Just as I was going to turn away I grabbed some of Fiona's tops and ripped them with my bare hands.

There was just something so satisfying to feel the seams splitting underneath my fingers. I smiled, letting the tattered remains fall to the ground.

I army crawled across the floor, less someone pass by and saw me standing, and stopped at the door.

I couldn't hear or see anyone in the area, and the stairwell looked to be abandoned.

"Perfect." I whispered to myself, bolting across the hallway to complete it with a James Bond roll to land me in the doorway right in front of the stair well.

Swiftly, I flew down the stairs, doing my best not to make any sort of noise which I succeeded in even as I landed on the basement floor. I halted there, and listened. Nothing. Not even a breath.

I knew what they were all capable of.

Scourge of messing around with me like a toy.

Fiona of causing me 'emotional' turmoil.

Boomer of completely crushing my skull between his hands.

Patches of cutting me to pieces.

Miles of…. Of….

I sighed. They could all hurt me. And more so since Scourge ordered them to. But why protect Finitevus? And why couldn't I hurt him with my Chaos energy?

Oh well, I'd have to solve that myself… unless he was using his own Anarchy Beryl to control them AND protect himself… That wasn't too entirely impossible and it was something he would do to completely take over the situation for himself. If that was the case then I might not be able to battle him unless I physically attack him.

That was were I lacked advantage. I had no idea if Finitevus could fight me despite his apparent old age. Even if he couldn't he could still try to use the Anarchy Beryl against me and then the stuff that was actually in the lab.

All I could do would be to take a chance and kill him as quickly as possible. After that I could find my way back home.

I smiled and stood.

This will be easy.

I ran around the entrance to the stairwell and stalked slowly towards the lab entrance. All the torches that lit the hall were out leaving me with the cover of darkness. No doubt a trick to give them an advantage since I couldn't see in the dark. And if I sung they'd know I was down here.

Damn it.

Even if I could get to the lab there was probably someone there waiting for me who'd sound the alarm and get me caught.

There was no way for me to get to Finitevus if that was the case.

Damn it.

I ran quickly down the hall. It was a now or never chance that I'd have to take. Take by surprise anyone who was down here and finish what should've been finished as soon as I could use the Chaos power.

I ran straight into the lab screaming. And there, waiting for me was Finitevus.

"DIE!" I yelled, reaching my hand back behind me, channeling all the energy I could muster into my fist, and throwing it right at his face.

The Energy didn't do any good, but his smug grin got crushed under my fist.

He fell to the ground, his cape flayed out around him like demonic wings.

I jumped on him and began to pound him. His soft skin bruised easily, and oh how good it felt.

"Die you no-good two-faced son of a rat!" I screamed, pile driving my elbow into the soft part of his belly.

His eyes opened wide and blood jumped out of his mouth.

I smiled wildly and then placed my hands around his neck. His soft white neck.

I started pressing my thumbs just under his Adam's apple.

He chuckled hoarsely as I did so.

"SHUT UP!" I screeched. "You lied to me the entire time I've been here!"

"Charolette…." He said, the voice not belonging to Finitevus. "It's me- Miles."

Immediately, I stopped, for the voice was his. I put my hands over my mouth and sat back as the shadowy form of Finitevus dissolved into the two-tailed fox. He put his own hand over his mouth and began to cough uncontrollably.

I smelled blood on my hands and dropped them instantly.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"Wha-?" He coughed. "Who?"

"Finitevus. The no good twit who is my intended target, where IS HE?" I asked, grabbing Miles by the lapel of his blood covered jacket.

He winced, his ears flattening against his head.

"I don't know." He hacked. "I was told to stay here to wait for you."

"Wait for me? On who's orders? Scourge?"

"No." He started, coughing out more blood onto his pure white gloves.

"Mine."

I turned quickly to see Finitevus and Scourge towering over me. Once again I felt like a lady bug about to be stepped on.

"YOU!" I shrieked, releasing my hold on Miles and springing up to go for the Doctor's face.

Scourge grabbed my shoulder and threw me against the swivel chair in the corner. I landed in it and was sent flying against the far wall, bashing my head against the dank brick.

"Sorry, babe. It's just business." He spoke.

I saw, through blurry eyes, dark energy coming from the three of them. The Anarchy Beryl. I couldn't touch them with my Chaos Energy if they had the Anarchy Beryl. Why hadn't it occurred to me before?

"Curse you to Hell." I spat.

"We'll meet you there." I heard him say as I fell into unconsciousness.


	13. Chapter 13: The Surf

Chapter 13- The Surf

"Thank you very much! I'll be here all week!" I called, setting the microphone back on the stand as I walked off the stage. Once out of the multi-colored lights I placed my hands over my eyes and sat down on a chair a few feet away from the curtain.

"You haven't been performing to your full potential, Charolette."

"Mogul. What a pleasant surprise." I said, leaning back.

"Don't get snippy with me." The mammoth spoke, placing both hands on his ornate cane. "Why haven't you been doing your job?"

"Well I don't know. Maybe if I didn't have this frackin' tracer in my arm I'd be a little happier and might actually smile more on stage." I said, motioning to my forearm.

The electric blue material from my shirt drew eyes up towards my face, which was strewn with glitter and make-up of all colors of the rainbow, but it could not deceive my own eyes which had seen without lights the imperfections of my body.

A slight bump, hardly noticeable unless at a certain angle, rested underneath my skin. I'd touched it once before, and that only time I ever did. A metal tracker-at least, that's what I thought it to be- made it's home in the sinews and muscles on my person.

I don't know how Mogul could think I'd perform better knowing this.

"Well, if you'd actually do your job instead of trying to escape every five minutes I wouldn't have had to put it in." He returned.

"Well, if you'd let me return home I wouldn't have to try to escape! Anyway, it's not as much fun performing for a crowd that gets incoherent after a minute of singing."

I crossed my arms.

I still couldn't control how much energy I took from people. Most of the time it depended on the tempo of the song, but that fluctuated constantly. And it didn't matter in the end anyway. All the energy I got from the crowd Mogul took to power the Casino.

He did it first for the fact that it was cheap, and second for the fact that he didn't want me blowing a hole through the wall again. Let's just say the first attempt at escape didn't end as well as I would've hoped.

"That's business." He said with a slight grin.

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw movement and reached out my hand as Naugus jumped up. A short blast of energy -in the midst of transferring to the main generator- blasted his face, and he leapt away, rubbing his cheek against his arm like a monkey.

The partially bald one horned creature glared at me with yellow eyes, saliva dripping down the side of his mouth. Ratted purple rags adorned his person, with long sharp claws protruding from the sleeves.

Mogul's little pet freaked me out if anything. And it wasn't cool with me that he constantly tried to come near me. His eyes, though filled with incoherent thoughts, still retained some sort of hibernating intelligence. It was the intelligence that freaked me out. He always found me when I was transferring the Chaos energy.

Mogul hit his humanoid pet with his cane with a hiss in response.

"Stop it, Naugus. Charolette is our guest and you must be polite."

"Easy for you to say." I mumbled under my breath, placing my chin in the palm of my hand.

"Besides your lack of performance, I wanted to let you know that I am having a friend of mine over for a meeting this evening, and I want you in attendance."

"What sort of deal is this now? Energy? Emeralds? A bomb?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"Potential." He answered shortly. Unusual for him. "Only potential business. It all depends on how well he can work his words."

He began to walk away.

"So, when will he be arriving?"

"Shortly."

"Should I change?"

"No."

The stage door leading out the main floor of the casino closed and I was left alone.

"Freakin' elephant." I cursed, getting out of my transfer seat to walk around. It had been almost three months since I was traded to Mogul from the "Suppression Squad" as the papers where now calling them. I'd been following them in the newspapers the casino gets daily, and let me say they've drastically changed management.

Apparently, according to the press, Finitevus got involved in this revival of an ancient being and disappeared shortly after that. A guy named "Enerjak", or something to that strange nature, was resurrected on a place called Angel Island and released onto the planet of Mobius. It was in the edition that showed the destruction caused that I got my first glimpse of the Sonic the Hedgehog Scourge seemed so Hell bent on destroying.

He looked pathetic.

Nothing special about him.

I was very unimpressed.

More so for the fact that someone of Scourge's stature was intimidated by that little blue pipsqueak.

But, that little blue pipsqueak managed to get involved in some pretty big stuff during the course of my stay.

He overthrew this crime lord -of sorts- named "Eggman". The name had been mentioned to me before by Mogul in passing and not in a good light… But, I suppose he was trying to destroy this planet "Mobius", and Sonic finally broke him. Pretty big thing but it paled as soon as the Iron Dominion came into the picture. There was a huge ordeal made over this Iron Queen and ruling Mobius, and in clear predictability, Sonic took her down as well.

Honestly, I don't know why the papers even bother to cover the story since they know it'll be taken care of...

But, wars were being waged outside. And there was nothing I could do. Mogul wouldn't let me leave, and my only hope was that the "Suppression Squad" would come back for me because they realized my potential as an ally. That sort of thinking got dashed quickly, though.

Hit men came to the casino for either drinks or business and I would get to talk to them about what was going on outside. There was one in particular, Nak, who took a liking to me and gave me information on the Squad's actions. Normally, Sonic made the headlines so any actions made by the squad were overlooked.. There was never enough information to satisfy my curiosity of their progress and general well-being. Nak was able to tell me all the parts that I'd missed during my imprisonment.

For example, there was one point in time where Scourge tried to take over Mobius! Shortly after they got rid of me if I might add, and the newspapers printed nothing about it! The Squad had dropped the Doctor at that point and acted solely on Scourge's ambitions and Miles' intelligence. Not that that surprised me much. None of the others had the drive to lead a group. They were all followers.

Nak had been able to dig up information for me concerning the outcome of this little escapade.

Failure.

Scourge lost to Sonic largely in part that the Anarchy Beryl didn't match the power of the Chaos Emerald Sonic had used.

I told them. I told them that day in the lab that the power of the Emeralds outshone the Anarchy Beryl tenfold.

I wondered often if Scourge would've prevailed if he had me there….

But, there was one other item of interest Nak uncovered. Something that continued to give me hope for escape.

The Star Rods. I'd seen them back in Finitevus' lab, but I had no idea what they were used for. Yeah, we'd use them every single day to get me to the casino, but I had no idea they could also get me to different planes! And, I guess, if I got enough power to charge it, I could somehow get back to Earth.

Not that I had any idea on how to do that, but I'm sure I could find SOMEONE who would know what to do.

But, until that happened, I was stuck at the casino. Singing for Mogul.

"Screw this, I'm outta here." I said, walking towards the door myself. Sure, I was supposed to go back on in five minutes… but did I care was the question.

Walking out, the smell of cigarette smoke and boos flew into my nostrils with an overwhelming presence. I placed my hand over my nose and walked over towards the bar where a pair of robots and my favorite informant waited patiently. I grinned to myself and walked faster.

"Evening." Nak greeted, doffing his boony hat to me. I nodded to him and sat down.

"You as well." I said, before turning to the robot behind the bar. "Grounder, get me an iced tea please?"

"Sure thing, Miss Charolette!" The robot wearing the chef's hat smiled and scurried off –or however a robot scurries- to fetch my drink.

"And Coconuts, how are you?" I asked, turning slightly to face the robotic monkey at the seat on my other side.

He sighed and glared at me.

"No better than I was before, Miss Charolette." He replied.

"Well, don't sound so optimistic about it." I said, swerving back to the purple weasel. "And what brings you here tonight? Not that I don't mind the unexpected visit."

He grinned as snaggle tooth grin and took a sip of his vodka and tonic.

"Pleasure." He said. "I got a pay raise for getting my last job done so nice, so I thought, why not get nice and go to the casino? You sang nice by the way. Never heard ya before."

"Don't do it too often." I said, grabbing the glass passed over the counter. Slowly, I took a sip of my tea. Just like home.

"Oh? Why's that? You gonna get embarrassed?"

"No. But you may fall into a sort of drunken stupor and help pay for the casino's energy bill if you do."

"Understood." He said, quirking an eyebrow and taking another sip of his drink.  
"So, do you have any news?" I asked, looking out over the casino, trying to not act too excited.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Unless someone can tell me what slots to play?" He asked, looking between me and the two robots present.

Grounder shrugged and Coconuts sighed.

"Slot 19." The monkey said before walking away towards the door.

I looked at the weasel.

"Will that do?"

"Sure."

"So, what have you got?" I asked.

He grinned once more and leaned his arm over the bar top.

"Well, your "friends" are planning another attack on Sonic and his groupies near as I can tell. Fiona and some of the regulars from the back sprung Scourge out of that inter-dimensional prison I was telling you about, and from what I've heard they're gonna make a move pretty soon."

"Do you know if the rest of them are going to be involved?"

"Like who?"

"Miles. Patches. All them."

"I couldn't say. They stay out of the spotlight, unlike the green one."

"I see…"

"And, not that this really matters to you either, but Eggman might also be launching an attack."

"So? Doesn't matter to me. Sonic will stop him."

"What makes you so sure?"

I looked at him over the lip of my glass.

"Statistics." I answered. "Anyway, wasn't Eggman a ball of droll a couple weeks back?"

"Was. But, from the activity in his base he's gotten better. Snively isn't smart enough to run a base that big by himself."

"Again. Who cares?"

"Just thought you might." He said, raising his hands in defeat.

"Well, I appreciate it." I said, placing my hand over his own.

"No worries kiddo. Anyway, your monkey friend hasn't been wrong yet. I'll see you in a week or so." He said, standing and giving me a one armed hug, his other occupied by his drink.

"Enjoy your evening." I said, waving to him as he walked away.

He nodded, and was swallowed by the crowd.

I sat there, sipping my drink and watching the casino's inhabitants. Mobians, humans, and robots alike all mingled with one another. Part of me wondered if any of the humans were from Earth, but I knew that was impossible. There was no way for human's to get from there to here… wherever HERE was.

And now easy way to get back. Of course, most humans would probably adjust and adopt to the wild clothing and living styles and blend in. But even then it would be difficult…

The woman I saw the first time I entered the casino, the one with the seaweed hair, walked by with a man sporting a suit made completely out of what appeared to be chainmail.

My electric blue top and hot pink skirt paled in comparison.

I did wonder how the humans got here. I know Eggman was a human of sorts, yet the entire species was a minority group. How strange it was. Not to be the dominant race… to be servants to beings that were ours on Earth. I felt a pang of understanding for how the African Americans must have felt when they were brought out of their homeland by the whites.

"Miss Charolette!" spoke a voice. I turned and saw Grounder tapping the bar top incessantly.

"What is it, Grounder?" I asked, turning around.

"You've been spaced out for a while now, and Mogul wanted me to tell you to get over to his office right away!"

"All right." I said, stepping onto the carpeted ground below my stool. "But I'll take my own sweet time doing it." I muttered.

With my drink in hand I walked slowly toward the office. Robots in passing would offer me a quick greeting of "Evening, Miss Charolette", or something of the like before scurrying away to continue their duties. Young men, both human and non, bowed their heads to me out of adoration of some sort. Women would look at me with distaste for stealing their lover's attention for the brief moment of my presence and then continue to fawn over the hand dealt at the table.

Coconuts was waiting for me at the door.  
"You're late." He warned.

"Oh well." I answered, walking into the small, lavish room.

Mogul was sitting at his mahogany desk, his cane hooked onto the edge, and his hands folded in deep contemplation in front of him. There was a man –sorry- a skunk in dress clothes facing him. Both of them stopped mid sentence to look at me.

"You're late." Mogul's deep voice stated.

"Take it from my pay." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes as I walked over to his right. The opposite of Naugus.

"Excuse me. This is my casino's singer, Charolette Thompson. Charolette, this is Geoffrey St. John."

The skunk looked at me with clear blue eyes and bowed. He looked familiar.

"Charmed Miss." He said, with a blatant Australian-esque accent.

"And you as well." I nodded my head to him. "But, please, don't let my intrusion interrupt your conversation." I said, motioning for them to continue as I took another long swig from my tea.

The ice clinked against one another.

"Very well. You were saying Geoffrey?" Mogul asked.

The skunk cleared his throat and pulled at his collar.

"Well, Mogul, as I was sayin' before… I'd made a promise to him to bring 'im back when the time was right. And since the Freedom Fightah's are so involved in dealing with theah A.I. it would be no problem to get an Emerald."

My eyes locked onto the skunk.

Mogul leaned back.

"I suppose you could attempt it if you'd like. I won't stop you."

"But ya won't deny me if I succeed." He prompted.

Mogul held his hands up.

"Upon my word as the owner of this casino."

I nearly burst out laughing.

"Very well then. I'll bring it here when I'm ready." Geoffrey said, starting toward the door.  
"Goodnight, Miss." He said, sweeping his arm before disappearing out of sight.

The wooden slab closed, coating the room in silence.

I leaned up against the desk and looked at Mogul.

"Two questions." I said.

"Ask away, little one." He said, leaning back in his wingback chair.

"What was the point of my being here?" I asked.

"Only to observe. Next question."

"What is he going to try to do with a Chaos Emerald?"

"Magic." Mogul answered, before standing. "And if you'd have been here on time then you would've known yourself. Now, if you'd be so kind as to go back onstage and sing a couple more pieces before retiring for the evening?"

"Sure." I said, slapping the glass onto his desk in hopes that it would leave a stain. "No problem at all."


End file.
